tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32290786917769370662024-02-20T10:34:01.076-08:00Adventurous Albiston-SmithsDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-70171142330549757522011-08-18T17:42:00.000-07:002011-08-25T04:41:36.085-07:00Istanbul and homeward boundWednesday 17th August: Istanbul<br />
To make the most of our last full day of sightseeing we jumped on the tram outside the door of the Hotel and headed for the end of the line and the Dolmabahce Palace. This is known locally as the 'new palace' as it takes over from the Topkapi Palace and was built in the mid 1800s: there is no resemblance between the style of Topkapi and this palace at all. Despite having been built by one of the last Sultans there was no sign of any ottoman design. He clearly wanted to compete with european palaces and this was very Baroque and just as ornate as Versailles. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0ntzm8-TTrlF8PZv5yc01hZsxmJtc1WbRHW8ENy22NYBOX2yHzk65yY3VGWfhwm4iqwpceLyh4OUE_NcOwaxlVNUNR-tGcYZas7rwDEkTxq1KOKmc7VGPjKNaiM-ylMDV17adSpktgea/s1600/DSCN1765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0ntzm8-TTrlF8PZv5yc01hZsxmJtc1WbRHW8ENy22NYBOX2yHzk65yY3VGWfhwm4iqwpceLyh4OUE_NcOwaxlVNUNR-tGcYZas7rwDEkTxq1KOKmc7VGPjKNaiM-ylMDV17adSpktgea/s200/DSCN1765.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Clearly no expense was spared ( which might explain why the peasants revolted and a Republic was formed in 1923!). It consisted of a high wall around some large stately buildings (with more than 625 rooms) and a beautiful garden. Inside there were chandeliers of all shapes and sizes, intricate parquetry floors and rugs, gold-framed giant mirrors, trompe d'oeuil ceilings( or however you spell that!), painted domes, ornate ornaments and rooms of huge proportions. Artists from France and Italy had been employed and lots of the china, porcelain, clocks etc imported from elsewhere. They'd gone to town with huge pillars of 'marble everywhere but in fact they were all false - made from plaster or stones and stucco. One of the chandeliers weighed 4 and half tons: they clean it every 6 years and it takes two months to clean each piece and reassemble it. What a job! And all this to house one Sultan, his wives, concubines and slaves - no wonder the peasants revolted!<br />
We were only allowed to view it on a tour and wearing very attractive plastic overshoes so we wouldn't hurt the floor coverings. We weren't even allowed to touch the bannisters on the way up the grand staircases. We revived ourselves with some turkish coffee and decided to use the funicular railway to get to the top of the nearest hill to see the Taksim monument. Yes, even Ewan agreed to get a lift up the hill so we could then walk down rather than the opposite. The walk was through a huge shopping boulevard ( four Starbucks and two Gloria Jeans) but eventually ended in some tiny steep cobblestoned streets full of music shops. Clutching two new pairs of shoes we finally emerged at the Galata Bridge again.<br />
A quick whiz through the Spice Market, and some purchasing of jewellery, and we were home again. After we had a go at packing our bags to see how much space we had left, we set off for our last evening meal in Turkey. We decided we would go to a standard kebap house for a typical turkish meal. The restaurant was next to a Mosque so there were a few people waititng for the call to prayers at 8.15pm before they started to eat and drink. A young couple next to us had their food and drinks sitting on the table in front of them for about 15 minutes, but didn't have any of it until the call started and then they ate very sedately. Such willpower after 16 hours of no food or drink of any kind!<br />
We wandered along the foreshore for the last time and had a coffee and some fresh baklava before making our last purchases and retiring for the night.<br />
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Thursday18th August: Istanbul to Melbourne <br />
Erin and I had missed out on seeing the Basilica Cistern which was only a few minutes walk away so we went there at 9.00am: our last historic site before heading for the Airport and home.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh04iStVmcpHjPei49-i1vy8spLDL-opwjV4hfJgInMRaM2qhB4ciS8rKrCiQlDNppP208WZqxA96JdSk4i_FB9WxR1U3Hn4zhiiocgnBB0uJSC_oI86ZIUw684_v0_gauS8nFZWC5X-Amv/s1600/DSCN1829.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh04iStVmcpHjPei49-i1vy8spLDL-opwjV4hfJgInMRaM2qhB4ciS8rKrCiQlDNppP208WZqxA96JdSk4i_FB9WxR1U3Hn4zhiiocgnBB0uJSC_oI86ZIUw684_v0_gauS8nFZWC5X-Amv/s200/DSCN1829.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>It is an underground cistern used to store clean water for use in the city by the Romans. Huge pillars supporting brick domed roof and with only shallow water in it now. Enough for lots of fish to live in though, some of them enormous! The pillars are all lit now and it feels damp with drops of water falling from the roof, due to condensation I guess.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQ6vV77Vyo9gzZh3Irxsl3HOzNZyGhfFa0RrFdduw3uGRkSeiJdXW-wSgdluZonQy88k9Db1d1RsivH8fYvZ_KFrOZmHUhv_fhsApXeFV3AIf7edYcDkhpydmVyhIfnBcuiXDWjcOqqSh/s1600/DSCN1853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQ6vV77Vyo9gzZh3Irxsl3HOzNZyGhfFa0RrFdduw3uGRkSeiJdXW-wSgdluZonQy88k9Db1d1RsivH8fYvZ_KFrOZmHUhv_fhsApXeFV3AIf7edYcDkhpydmVyhIfnBcuiXDWjcOqqSh/s200/DSCN1853.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Medusa's head supporting a pillar in the water</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Even here the pillars were carved and there were a couple of pillars supported by huge statues of Medusa's head so very intriguing. It was lovely and cool and quite eerie. We were reluctant to go outside to the heat and humidity, but we were due to get back to the Hotel and catch a taxi to the Airport.<br />
So it was farewell to Istanbul and Turkey for us. I'm writing this at Singapore Airport at 1.00am Turkey time and soon we will be on the final leg of our journey home.<br />
We have had an amazing two months of travelling through southern Africa and Turkey, but as often happens, travel makes you appreciate not only the wonders of the world out there , but also the joy of your own home and country. <br />
I'm looking forward to seeing Lauren at the Arrivals gate tonight and it will be wonderful to have our family back together again for the first time since January.<br />
Thank you for reading this blog: I'm sorry it was so boring in parts, and the spelling and grammar suffered when I was tired, but I look forward to reading it and remembering what a great trip we had in the years to come.<br />
Bon voyage!!!! May all your travels bring you as much joy and wonder as we have experienced from ours.Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-61546022348486382132011-08-17T08:36:00.000-07:002011-08-17T08:36:00.497-07:00Istanbul.......Tuesday 16th August: Istanbul<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHX3Y9UJyYoTsJfOmoUn79DQ85TZVuSHFBKf7-wtllGrbUJQLlkkbIRObmtP3bIK7WDgKJbYEwZjcHU1HmyggByDoV26rWpsNtYl1b0Xr6aE-vrIuq_gDPfO2QPahXZcF4OAavVa0l7wy/s1600/DSCN1726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHX3Y9UJyYoTsJfOmoUn79DQ85TZVuSHFBKf7-wtllGrbUJQLlkkbIRObmtP3bIK7WDgKJbYEwZjcHU1HmyggByDoV26rWpsNtYl1b0Xr6aE-vrIuq_gDPfO2QPahXZcF4OAavVa0l7wy/s200/DSCN1726.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Today's major event was a visit to the Haga Sophia which is now classified as a Museum. It started it's life well before the Blue Mosque as a Christian church in the 6th century before becoming a mosque in Ottoman times in the 15th Century, surviving a few earthquakes and finally being declared a Museum by good old Ataturk in 1932.<br />
As it is closed every Monday we assumed that there would be lots of visitors today so again we queued up early. It is a huge and very spectacular building with both christian and islamic features. There were finely detailed golden mosaics of Jesus, Mary (sittiing alongside the Emperor of the times and his wife) with beautiful angels and lots of crosses. But there were also huge islamic discs with the names of prophets in gold, prayer areas with separate areas for women as in Muslim mosques. But most of all there were enormous domes with gold and rich colours everywhere, either painted or mosaics. The buiding has been in a constant state of renovation/repair for centuries it seems, but it is still very beautiful. We walked up a spiral marble ramp to reach the balcony which runs around the inside walls and gave us an even better view of the workmanship involved.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWkhCm_O-IAJt0RCy_yCaY_ctTSEV7tsVitWlZ4nXca1cXzwcMSEbL6ULDScSMKLLJ9tqJKL7JfXzLC0lALF9NmqjWw6e3cyQylWMTQV6evuObbZja0RxuRm_86if8jnwACnCcHfRLkz5/s1600/DSCN1750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyWkhCm_O-IAJt0RCy_yCaY_ctTSEV7tsVitWlZ4nXca1cXzwcMSEbL6ULDScSMKLLJ9tqJKL7JfXzLC0lALF9NmqjWw6e3cyQylWMTQV6evuObbZja0RxuRm_86if8jnwACnCcHfRLkz5/s200/DSCN1750.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Whilst Erin and I fastidiously followed the audio guide like the perfect tourists we are, Ewan just wandered around and eventually headed off for the Archealogical Museum on his own. The good news is that it has over a million works , none of whch Erin and I were desperate to see as we felt we had done quite enough Museums for one trip! Having visited most of the sites where these pieces have come from we didn't really feel a desperate urge to go with him. Of course Ewan thought it was fascinating, and he also visited the Museum of Muslim Art too! He's now a total authority on muslm carpet designs and tiles - very useful I'm sure.<br />
After a couple of hours absorbing the beauty of the Haga Sophia, and battling the tour groups, Erin and I set off for that other Holy Grail - the shopping centre.<br />
I always find it fascintaing to go to markets, supermarkets and shopping centres to see how the locals live. We discovered that most turkish supermarkets have a baklava and turkish delight counter rather than a bakery, for example. We decided to go to an outlet shopping centre called Olivium, by suburban train. It also proved to be the place where most of the leather jackets and coats are made, as we saw some of the basement sweat shops as we wandered around. I wasn't tempted as most of the designs were way over the top and most of them seemed to be made for small tourists, not my size! <br />
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The first part of the adventure was to get there via the suburban train, not an easy exercise when faced with the least helpful ticket seller we have come across. She totally ignored us but managed to sell a token for the train to a turkish girl who was behind us : very annoying! We haven't encountered that behaviour before: most people have gone out of their way to help us. No customer service prizes for her!!! Finally, after we became a bit more assertive, she glumly sold us the tokens we needed to get on to the station and board a train. The only problem was that although the platforms were numbered they didn't indiacte anywhere which train was going to our destination. Finally Erin asked the guy at the train station cafe and he happily pointed us in the right direction. So off we sped along the coast for 6 stations. Strollin gpast the leatherr shops we reached the shopping centre and spent a couple of hours shoppping. <br />
We came to the following conclusions: <br />
1. If we'd needed a raincoat there was a choice of hundreds. The Muslim women wear black ankle length raincoats in winter and in summer wear beige or pale colours instead. They are for the fashion-consciuos women so there are lots of variation on a theme: pintucks, buttons, belts, some frills and every style imaginable. They have long sleeves, high collars and reach the ankles so thay they cover as much of the body as possible.<br />
2. Turkish women are a lot shorter than we are: Erin tried on a few dresses which looked like tops on her as they were clearly designed for someone a lot shorter. She did buy a couple of tops though, and very cheap.<br />
3. There was one bigger ladies shop, and clearly if you are a bigger lady you are supposed to wear everyhting very long and wide. Couldn't find anyhting I would wear.<br />
4. All of the tops have long sleeves, except for a few t-shirts and singlets:absolutely nothing has three-quarters sleeves at all: this is again due to Muslim customs.<br />
It was all fascinating though and we rewarded ourselves with a treat : a cup of fruit and white chocolate, from the food court. Back to the train station (where a young guy told us he'd never seen a tourist before!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXssuHG_-bpVSNLm4-JeD2F8QJeyJQA4eA-_bVz7a1HFshyc-llHW4UM7u31rnwXXZVNK7Y4oJW9LJVivDTfqxbzHxGC2PKWcUONM6oezod70aRl2Xjn4C1dJURVxOz8hHHyivy23gBHn-/s1600/DSCN1756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXssuHG_-bpVSNLm4-JeD2F8QJeyJQA4eA-_bVz7a1HFshyc-llHW4UM7u31rnwXXZVNK7Y4oJW9LJVivDTfqxbzHxGC2PKWcUONM6oezod70aRl2Xjn4C1dJURVxOz8hHHyivy23gBHn-/s200/DSCN1756.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's our packets of spices on the counter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Then we headed for the Spice Bazaar, just to do some more authentic tourist shopping. It makes you very hungry as there are endless stalls with huge baskets of spices, dates, nuts, dried fruit, turkish delight as well as the usual souvenirs and an assortment of everything else. We bought lots of spices for presents and the guy vacuum sealed each packet on the spot so we could get them through Customs. So there'll be some nice meals from them I'm hoping. After a look around we headed back to put our aching feet up for a while.<br />
When we had recovered we set off for one of the 'self-service' restaurants nearby. This doesn't mean that they are cheap, but you can select your meal from a huge array of hot and cold dishes, or they will grill any kebab you fancy. After eating aubergine sald, yougurt dip, creamed spinach, roasted red peppers, garden salad, stuffed aubergines, grilled chicken and lamb chops, we staggered home (some of us cursing the fact that we didn't leave room for any baklava or rice pudding or halva or.......). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAB7RlEjMQfI5vQjMghZRcW-xe3kF7I4EUyJi1e-toRMkNHPVNMYLQL9LkLho5eLysawI1-4v7RNgFUSMr7L3NzTaosc9FC5gx9S2N-icxMmjpyqBQsk5od0DRsdKxLHQaVCYQKR7Ivvt/s1600/DSCN1675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAB7RlEjMQfI5vQjMghZRcW-xe3kF7I4EUyJi1e-toRMkNHPVNMYLQL9LkLho5eLysawI1-4v7RNgFUSMr7L3NzTaosc9FC5gx9S2N-icxMmjpyqBQsk5od0DRsdKxLHQaVCYQKR7Ivvt/s200/DSCN1675.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self-service cafeteria food: delicious!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQI84zptXcr-PwH4-l91kXwNFwLr1V4UaYM498gSLBeZqCtC8iJDfHSntLtYadciQaZU3fUWyHKbyOwur4ub6FdeBRksuDSW2PKLy2I7-L2D0HIBbsaJMxcHhT4tiOEtshmKk3BcHAixNS/s1600/DSCN1679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQI84zptXcr-PwH4-l91kXwNFwLr1V4UaYM498gSLBeZqCtC8iJDfHSntLtYadciQaZU3fUWyHKbyOwur4ub6FdeBRksuDSW2PKLy2I7-L2D0HIBbsaJMxcHhT4tiOEtshmKk3BcHAixNS/s200/DSCN1679.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Istanbul trams</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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Wednesday 17th August: Istanbul<br />
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To make the most of our last full day of sightseeing we jumped on the tram outside the door of the Hotel and headed for the end of the line and the Dolmabahce Palace. This is known locally as the 'new palace' as it takes over from the Topkapi Palce and was bulit in the mid 1800s: there is no resemblance between the style of Topkapi and this palace at all. Despite having been built by one of the last Sultans there was no ottoman design used. The closest Baroque design I have seen was Versailles and clearly no expense was spared ( which might explain why the peasants revolted and a Republic was formed in 1923!). It consisted of a high wall around some large stately buildings (with more than 625 rooms) and a beautiful garden. Inside there were chandeliers of all shapes and sizes, intricate parquetry floors and rugs, gold-framed giant mirrors, trompe d'loeuil ceilings( or however you spell that!), painted domes, ornate ornaments and rooms of huge proportions. Artists from France and Italy had been employed and lots of the china, porcelain, clocks etc imported from elsewhere. They'd gone to town with huge pillars of 'marble everywhere but in fact they were all false - made from plaster or stones and stucco. One of the chandeliers weighed 4 and half tons: they clean it every 6 years and it takes two months to clean each piece and reassemble it. What a job! And all this to house one Sultan, his wives, concubines and slaves - no wonder the peasants revolted!<br />
We were only allowed to view it on a tour and wearing very attractive plastic overshoes so we wouldn't hurt the floor coverings. We weren't even allowed to touch the bannisters on the way up the grand staircases. We revived ourselves with some turkish coffee and decided to use the funicular railway to get to the top of the nearest hill to see the Taksim monument. Yes, even Ewan agreed to get a lift up the hill so we could then walk down rather than the opposite. The walk was through a huge shopping boulevard ( four Starbucks and two Gloria Jeans) but eventually ended in some tiny steep cobblestoned streets full of music shops. Clutching two new pairs of shoes we finally emerged at the Galata Bridge again.<br />
A quick whiz through the Spice Market, and some purchasing of jewellery, and we were home again. Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-7493166558812504012011-08-15T12:59:00.000-07:002011-08-17T09:03:52.329-07:00Exploring exotic IstanbulSunday 14th August: Selcuk to Istanbul<br />
Today we had a day of travelling and the last move before we head for home next Thursday.<br />
We all had a sleep in, much to Erin's delight, and then headed for the Selcuk train station in the hope that we could get a train directly to Izmir Airport. This involved wheeling our luggae over lovely cobblestones and praying that the wheels wouldn't fall off!<br />
Surprisingly there was noone at the Train station to sell us a ticket...or so we thought. One of the local ladies arrrived and when she couldn't see anyone in the Ticket Office yelled a lot until someone appeared. We bought our tickets for a whole 4 Lira each (about $2.40) which was a good deal as we were 80 kilometres from the Airport. Only a few carriages on the train but very nice, although we didn't get a seat. We were delighted when we arrived at the door to the Airport 45 minutes later. With a couple of hours to spare before our Pegasus Airlines flight to Istanbul we read our books and observed the other passsengers: always an interesting pastime in a foreign country.<br />
The flight also took about 45 minutes and before long we were in a taxi hurtling through the back lanes of the old part of Istanbul. You may have noticed that we always seem to end up in the old parts of many of the cities we have visited, but they are the most interesting. Istanbul has a population of 8.8 million in the city, and if you count the surrounding area the population is estimated at 13 million, which is a bit scary when you add in tourists too. We could have ended up miles away from the ancient historical things we wanted to see if we'd gone to the suburbs that's for sure.<br />
The Old City Viva Hotel is in a very central location and is on the Tram line, the only one they have in Istanbul so that will be very handy if we can work out how to buy a ticket of course!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0d9GL5sf2WXC1IOd7YxNcVPfWJa8qjiNgsVqOyMMPUlC1CqKXc-7pyvXKGies7_6uPTwAaQ3WisH9vwatVt8fhPc9hFANnHYb7WkM83w8Hg8mneIUwtOgYVK6ZX8c9Br-3aquc0PWLK7/s1600/DSCN1514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0d9GL5sf2WXC1IOd7YxNcVPfWJa8qjiNgsVqOyMMPUlC1CqKXc-7pyvXKGies7_6uPTwAaQ3WisH9vwatVt8fhPc9hFANnHYb7WkM83w8Hg8mneIUwtOgYVK6ZX8c9Br-3aquc0PWLK7/s200/DSCN1514.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>We decided to have a bit of a wander around, sticking close to the Tram line so we could find our way home. We ended up at the Galata Bridge where there is a whole level of the bridge taken up by restaurants devoted to Bahlik Ekmek: fish sandwiches.Tthey consist of a small whole fish ( minus head) cut in half and grilled, in a bread roll with salad. It seemed as if half of Istanbul had decided to get one for dinner as there were people everywhere. Lots of touts tried to persuade us to take a boat trip on the Bosphurus in tiny boats. In the end we decided bigger was better and paid 12 Lira ( about $7.20) for a 90 minute trip on a large ferry boat. It was very stable - phew! - and gave a great view of the the mosques and palaces we are hoping to see. Of course just as the sun was setting, and the perfect picture of the mosques at sunset emerged, the batteries in the camera were exhausted so that was that! Oh well, we'll have to buy a postcard! <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There were a couple of waiters selling fresh orange juice, tea, and other treats which we appreciated as it was getting late. Once we were back on terra firma we wove our way through the crowds, the various food stalls selling roasted chestnuts, pink pickles (?!) corn, doner kebab, icecream and of course, Bahlik Ekmek. Finally we found a restaurant with great doner kebab and had dinner. With lots of planning needed to make the most of our few days in this city we headed for the Hotel and had an early night in anticipation of big things to come on the morrow.</div>Monday 15th August: Istanbul<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYz-5d4F2ZgcQJDILfsCg4tZvSpRiu_vMf38gnvOh1zYBQKdu6dpMzjw5fVurPEwPxkFSgxmqH_lOadCFsJh8WhHmmEAc1m9Qg-8Dsdg9z_6c1v91S0ezjfu8jpxqlSb_UTcUZmL-PJoP/s1600/DSCN1614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYz-5d4F2ZgcQJDILfsCg4tZvSpRiu_vMf38gnvOh1zYBQKdu6dpMzjw5fVurPEwPxkFSgxmqH_lOadCFsJh8WhHmmEAc1m9Qg-8Dsdg9z_6c1v91S0ezjfu8jpxqlSb_UTcUZmL-PJoP/s200/DSCN1614.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>After consulting the trusty Lonely Planet guide about what was open and when, we headed off early for a ten-minute walk to reach the Topkapi Palace at 8.30am. This turned out to be a good move as the ticket office opened at 9.00am and Ewan was third in his queue with lots of people queued up behind. It also meant we could get the tickets to the Harem early too.<br />
Let me explain - Topkapi Palace is a huge palace which was originally built for the reigning Sultan in the 15th Century and was rebuilt or expanded through the reign of various Sultans until 1839. It's a huge complex with superb views over the sea, gardens surrounding all of the buildings form various eras. We were intrigued by a building which housed the personal efffects of the Prophet Mohammed, including a handkerchief, hairs from his beard and a footprint. <br />
There was the walking stick that Moses is supposed to have used to part the seas too.These are all considered sacred objects of course so we were creful about our reactions to them! The buildings are stunning with beautiful traditional blue tiles, stained glass and lots of gold. They had left a small section where they had renovated any of the paint or tiles so you could see the difference. The Harem for the Sultan's 300-500 concubines was marble, tiles, beautiful domes and painted walls . It's tricky to work out how often they might see the Sultan if there were so many of them! The Sultan's mother and black guards from North Africa, who had been castrated, kept them in line apparently. Fun job!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl1xF8krr7piigCYRcNtT88klQ_5AU6_MxBq9SNS8WS6TWkDgm_AqVk6M9z_F9Ovu4Q4ctOU063Ie6e24chFCl5YXce7VbGPMzsA8OUlZkMFoOYtyf2sJjZ3wLt8oEYfww8c2mC_bGWDrf/s1600/DSCN1607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl1xF8krr7piigCYRcNtT88klQ_5AU6_MxBq9SNS8WS6TWkDgm_AqVk6M9z_F9Ovu4Q4ctOU063Ie6e24chFCl5YXce7VbGPMzsA8OUlZkMFoOYtyf2sJjZ3wLt8oEYfww8c2mC_bGWDrf/s200/DSCN1607.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>We spent nearly 3 hours wandering through the whole complex as there were pools, terraces, a parliament, a hospital and a treasury. The Treasury had some amazing jewelled boxes, rings, swords all covered in emeralds, rubies, diamonds and gold. They were so ornate they were barely able to be used for their original purpose. Ewan commented that he understood where Franco Cozzo got his style from!!<br />
After a cold juice to help us revive we headed for the Blue Mosque. Erin and I were dressed in long pants and more modest tops so that we could go inside, as it is a functioning mosque. For those visitors whose shoulders and legs weren't covered they provided blue scarves to serve as skirts or tops. We arrived in time to have a look around before prayers at 12.30 when all visitors had to leave. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiB6f8He4lIZFmr25SXBYdYakatHG9wxDSI3wxijMbvc7OyZ2pIjWGtw9nzf_wsLltAJ1MQO40xI_waPUdoTxJRxHgnHK0xTBJN_dd8gN4v6yFshKTUat2RzztcbWTjDWnxitkEVWzU6h/s1600/DSCN1644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiB6f8He4lIZFmr25SXBYdYakatHG9wxDSI3wxijMbvc7OyZ2pIjWGtw9nzf_wsLltAJ1MQO40xI_waPUdoTxJRxHgnHK0xTBJN_dd8gN4v6yFshKTUat2RzztcbWTjDWnxitkEVWzU6h/s200/DSCN1644.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>When we walked in we were amazed at the height of the roof, the number of domes and the thousands of tiles used to decorate it. Erin commented that it was hard to take it all in. I tried to photograph it but it is impossible to get a real sense of the beauty and size of it. In muslim mosques there are no paintings or statues of animals or people so they can be very bare., however the tiles here and the designs were very intricate, with the predominant colour being blue, as the name suggests. Ewan was impressed by the 17th century engineering that was required to construct a building of this size.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQMhEHS8PBoLwWth-SRpCIpP4Nt7Fihsve_K1BLEEb9Ju73Rs98ZJFRQAbdO7Q6Lgg4qhLv3UrR_-uoIaaWZinRdM9jWx4-iaw8sNnUeuz2aDH-NFBPrcIPzu1fRyYbc_CBdEtRjEzAmV/s1600/DSCN1663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQMhEHS8PBoLwWth-SRpCIpP4Nt7Fihsve_K1BLEEb9Ju73Rs98ZJFRQAbdO7Q6Lgg4qhLv3UrR_-uoIaaWZinRdM9jWx4-iaw8sNnUeuz2aDH-NFBPrcIPzu1fRyYbc_CBdEtRjEzAmV/s200/DSCN1663.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erin and I suitably attired for mosque-visiting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We wandered around the Sultanahmet area passing various tombs and smaller mosques. Eventually we found a restaurant that was self-service: you point and they put it on a plate for you: stuffed eggplants, creamed spinach, fresh beans, turkish shepherds pie ( !) and other delicacies. Delicious!<br />
Fortiified by the food we decided we could face the challenge of the Grand Bazaar for which Istanbul is famous. After a few minutes Ewan decided he would enjoy it more without tagging around with us ( and vice versa!) so we agreed to meet at the Hotel later. He soon tired of the millions of shops in the Bazaar and wandered off to check out yet more mosques and old buildings. Erin and I set off with great intentions and great concentration, which was needed to not get hopelessly lost! It wasn't as chaotic as I anticipated but there were so many shops it was overwhelming. I htink we were asked "Where are you from ?" at least a hundred times by hopeful shop keepers. I did get lured into a leather shop and tried on a few jackets, but when Erin glanced at the price tag on one that I did like, we beat a hasty retreat: it was worth well over a thousand dollars! My bartering skills are not good enough to reduce that to a reasonable price! We did manage to buy some lovely silk scarves and a pair of turkish floppy pants for Erin, but that wore us out completely so we decided to face the challenge of the tram to get back to the Hotel. It was actually very simple - you find the token machine, insert two lira which gets you a red plastic token, insert that into the gate to enter the tram stop and then you wait for the train. The first one that arrived was so full, despite having four carriages, that we couldn't squeeze in. Fortunately the next one was better and we managed to find the right stop to disembark. They are very impressive, and very frequent, so we will be using them over the next few days.<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We collpased in a heap until Ewan arrived with stories of fabulous buildings and a box of fresh baklava. Yum! It's clear that I should have been born turkish because the women here, as they get older, just wear loose baggy pants and grow wider: there's something to be said for that approach to ageing!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Finally we dragged ourselves to the lane at the back of the Hotel and had dinner and then home for an early night to prepare us for another day of non-stop action.</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjiStgPoiG8AtqGw6EXBdDnuonOMNZ68xDe0cvXdHVNpOxH98esBagrdeCwo9JaPVJb4IyeQz810zdKxOOn2OQ3zPut8B3CLfMKAgTkRHV95s3BkKMycFpHvjG7ZQoH1UUMgCPFXDoAw0/s1600/DSCN1507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRjiStgPoiG8AtqGw6EXBdDnuonOMNZ68xDe0cvXdHVNpOxH98esBagrdeCwo9JaPVJb4IyeQz810zdKxOOn2OQ3zPut8B3CLfMKAgTkRHV95s3BkKMycFpHvjG7ZQoH1UUMgCPFXDoAw0/s200/DSCN1507.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishermen on the Galata Bridge <br />
catching very small fish!</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-32765459340225540112011-08-13T22:47:00.000-07:002011-08-13T22:47:36.781-07:00The grandeur of an ancient city - EphesusSaturday 13 th August: Selcuk and Ephesus ( or Efes as the Turks call it, which is also the name of their favourite beer)<br />
Let me give you a word of advice about visiting well-known ruins on a Saturday in summer: try to re-schedule!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_G2fFJr0fB6l8mlXKaygKIo4t-VfcqE287g-s3eoFlPBvUPjPrKxw_6r7xUY636p6Y4rB3fjIEu74DSaFxpZ3HOkB445HBwnnmTeeOP78zO5_C7RHkngNV68XVz-hjHTK1ivTIav32lh/s1600/DSCN1436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_G2fFJr0fB6l8mlXKaygKIo4t-VfcqE287g-s3eoFlPBvUPjPrKxw_6r7xUY636p6Y4rB3fjIEu74DSaFxpZ3HOkB445HBwnnmTeeOP78zO5_C7RHkngNV68XVz-hjHTK1ivTIav32lh/s200/DSCN1436.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>I've decided that tourists are a dangerous species. They cluster together trying to hear every word their guide utters to extol the virtues of the ruins, and are oblivious to anyone else. The Japanese tend to carry umbrellas to block out the sun, but in doing so nearly decapitate or poke out the eyes of other tourists. The babble of languages almost drowned out the sound on our audio guides as the tour guides talk very loudly and confidently. They rely on their 'group' keeping close to them. You can see the anxiety in the eyes of tourists when they lose sight of their group: the scanning of masses of fellow tourists faces and the look of relief when they spot a familiar face at last. Usually it's because they stop to take a photo or their footwear is inappropriate (what would posess a person to wear high heels to tramp around ruins!) so they can't keep up, The coast is not far from Ephesus so busloads of beachgoers arrive for a few hours dressed in their beachgear and then retreat to the beach. Those of us dressed in sensible clothes seem rather out of place! The winner of 'The Sight of the Day' competition went to an American family consisting of Dad, Asian wife, frail Asian grandfather and some kids, one of whom was in a pusher. The Dad gave the pusher to the Grandfather to hold on to, then held on to the back of the old man's trousers and then they set off down the hill along a marble street. When the Dad caught my eye, I must have looked a bit astonished as he grinned and said "We're all good!" I wasn't so sure - I wonder if they made it to the bottom of the hill intact!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqLIjCh2pXKvtfnwg5uxPE9yhDu74e9danFZlo44dHDaZHc1D_JcKAM-lK6Y1m020fduv09ohkhClsq7YKppBaRKXaZQSRAYn_hmye5WMLqSJjdDXWT7lQ92R1-J51PNjv8r26EFUkB54/s1600/DSCN1424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqLIjCh2pXKvtfnwg5uxPE9yhDu74e9danFZlo44dHDaZHc1D_JcKAM-lK6Y1m020fduv09ohkhClsq7YKppBaRKXaZQSRAYn_hmye5WMLqSJjdDXWT7lQ92R1-J51PNjv8r26EFUkB54/s200/DSCN1424.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The library for which Ephesus is famous</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikARnqHKbWCU6QmYxh0j-Hz7KAML2h1qUSxitLJAAV4CHRGCa9Z8LpB0fxHXH5P3_Z-rTOBlesRoiVZN02yT2sGHbIBX5hm-AbZPDe3LlHGNQM2kJasFyF_coFrx3PBT24XCWkCwS9Ug2/s1600/DSCN1445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikARnqHKbWCU6QmYxh0j-Hz7KAML2h1qUSxitLJAAV4CHRGCa9Z8LpB0fxHXH5P3_Z-rTOBlesRoiVZN02yT2sGHbIBX5hm-AbZPDe3LlHGNQM2kJasFyF_coFrx3PBT24XCWkCwS9Ug2/s200/DSCN1445.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1800 year old water pipes that still work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Ephesus is certainly worth seeing and even with lots of visitors is still a remarkable city. It's a great example of how people lived in earlly AD as it consists of townhouses, marble streets, ancient latrines, wells and fountains, drainage channels, gymnasiums/schools, an ampitheatre that seats 24,000 people, an agora or parliament and a reconstructed two-storey library. In lots of these ancient ruins the town planning is very impressive. The residents have sewerage and waste systems, easy access to clean water as well as heating, and hot and cold water for some who could afford it. There was still a clear delineation between the wealthy and the poor, who were often slaves, but life could be fairly comfortable. Sections of this city, which housed 2-300,00 people, are gone but there are a couple of marble boulevardes with the remains of buildings either side which gives you a real sense of city life.<br />
We spent a few hours wandering around and then caught a dolmus or local minibus back to town, where the weekly market was in progress. Ewan found just the piece of hose he needed to repair the vacuum cleaner at home, but decided he couldn't fit it into his bag! We bought, figs, peaches and honey bread for a picnic in the park, before going to the Museum. As usual some of the statues etc from Ephesus were in the Museum so it's interesting to see them even though they aren't in their original location and are better-protected in museum conditions.<br />
Finally we staggered back to the room for a snooze and a rest. The drums and calls to prayer had been very close the night before ( and Lauren rang at 4am for some reason!!) so we needed a nap before heading out for Kebap for dinner. We found more of the old aqueduct and discovered the cafe end of town and the railway station. We set off for Istanbul tomorrow - our last move before home- so we might try to catch the train to the Izmir Airport where we have a flight booked. Could be interesting!Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-22706702837307543062011-08-13T09:04:00.000-07:002011-08-13T09:05:44.471-07:00Ruins ruins and more ruins: off to EphesusFriday 12th August: Fethiye to Selcuk<br />
The Search for the One Lira Icecream Cone. Travellers assess the joys of a town or village using different measures - the food, the wine, the views, the ruins, the shopping and so on. Ewan has one clear measure and this is it: Can you purchase one scoop of ice cream/gelati in a waffle cone for the princely sum of one Lira or not?! Ewan's final judgement about Fethiye was that he had had enough of it as 3 Lira was outrageous!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4s-TtA_1kianPiisJ6zKcMaCKnuE-LqjxYyspwqIGO0Sii8t-E3bGXVcZ4NNzGPk_gppp2Cd8ccGyANb4FEJsheaEiprFMNYRyYrArkQSvzXrwrP_Zo5oiY6w0Bbmh3hiq8h7ZHZCxecJ/s1600/DSCN1340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4s-TtA_1kianPiisJ6zKcMaCKnuE-LqjxYyspwqIGO0Sii8t-E3bGXVcZ4NNzGPk_gppp2Cd8ccGyANb4FEJsheaEiprFMNYRyYrArkQSvzXrwrP_Zo5oiY6w0Bbmh3hiq8h7ZHZCxecJ/s200/DSCN1340.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>So today we ventured forth to experience the bus network for which Turkey is famous. Everyone we've met raves about the buses and we have seen very flash versions everywhere we've been.<br />
<br />
So to get from Fethiye to Selcuk we started on one of the big new buses.Erin was pleased to see that every seat had its own TV screen, but her joy was rather short-lived when she realised that every channel was in Turkish of course. I discovered the Music Videos section and spent some time updating my musical knowledge watching Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. Eventualy I became rather tired of half-naked women gyrating around, so I reverted to reading my book - sometimes I sound just like my mother!<br />
The buses have a 'busboy' with a very smart bowtie who checks tickets and wheels a trolley of FREE drinks and snacks up and down the aisle at regular intervals. We had no idea what the snacks actually were but ended up with cake, wholemeal biscuits and pretzels, so all good. The bus travelled inland form the coast but eevery now and then we caught a glimpse of blue water. We called in at a number of towns to collect and deliver people but just before stopping at one there was a whole lot of instructions from the driver in fast Turkish of course. As we understood only one word: 'besh' which is 5 we figured it meant that there was a 5 minute stop so Erin and I went to the loo. When we returned everyone was waiting for us and the door closed the minute we leapt aboard. Ewan did comment that the man who had been sitting next to him had left, and just as the bus pulled out he came running towards the bus waving his arms. It's the quick and the dead here! He leapt aboard and away we went After 4 hours we arrrived at Aydin and transferred into a minibus, which fortunately stuck to the highway and delivered us to Selcuk in 45 minutes.<br />
Selcuk's major claim to fame is that it is where Ephesus is: one of the best preserved Roman cities in Turkey, so we're preparing for that tomorrow. Fortunately, the Homeros Pension and Guesthouse wasn't far from the bus station in the old part of town. It's very quaint with a rooftop terrace and laden with every turkish rug and ornament possible: slightly kitsch but cute.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlajOO8K_Wgu3M0QXfRSbF6i-urI5O8sZLfH9nECDRXq4Aozo0xmTWChGQ9lpV9TbaYQwYeJRaNts3XikqxRHKP91lcIJDhZQKiCOa9_xpAzs0jNOUoIpef9nrI_iX8dl9DScziBdbjz-S/s1600/DSCN1358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlajOO8K_Wgu3M0QXfRSbF6i-urI5O8sZLfH9nECDRXq4Aozo0xmTWChGQ9lpV9TbaYQwYeJRaNts3XikqxRHKP91lcIJDhZQKiCOa9_xpAzs0jNOUoIpef9nrI_iX8dl9DScziBdbjz-S/s200/DSCN1358.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>After a day of sitting in buses we set off to get our bearings, starting with the Basilica of St John, which was built around the tomb of John the Apostle in the 4th Century AD and then expanded in the 6th Century. Apparently he lived here with the Virgin Mary for some years, although there seems to be some variations about the accuracy of information. Apparently this is on the Holy Sites tours, but we didn't see any busloads of tourists today. It was supposed to be enormous in its day and there is a lot of it left, with some reconstruction, so we spent a while wandering around.<br />
When we paid the entry fee we noticed a sign saying that the Castle was closed. Erin and I were devastated as the Castle was a Citadel on a hill behind the Basilica. However we found ourselves wandering in that direction after checking out an ancient mosque and an aqueduct. A young french girl and a local man were discussing the possibility of doing an illegal tour through a hole in the fence so of course Ewan joined them. <br />
Not to be thwarted by officialdom he ignored the signs and the locked gate and followed them up the hill to inspect the Castle. Meanwhile Erin and I rested and watched a menagerie of people and animals - horses, roosters, chickens - going about their daily business. When Ewan returned he confirmed all of our expectations about how fabulous it was and showed us lots of photos he'd taken on his phone so we didn't miss anything - how thoughtful he is!<br />
Dinner at the Pension after a drink on the rooftop terrace completed the day. . Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-6902351647142725022011-08-11T08:59:00.000-07:002011-08-13T09:11:08.870-07:00Fethiye: seafood and a gorgeous gorge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Cpi-Vn61I-UDktvUBNCie5xkekOX-KOz6wcmC4JBC9ay5q2-aaUBliMq3gz6SdkMZtW-gVG9jDHU-vnLwj-EJpzxjvfFibqdnBYBFS4CiVh9x9q3EwZxSCRTahMPuFFhP3DavJ0Ls3dc/s1600/DSCN1247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Cpi-Vn61I-UDktvUBNCie5xkekOX-KOz6wcmC4JBC9ay5q2-aaUBliMq3gz6SdkMZtW-gVG9jDHU-vnLwj-EJpzxjvfFibqdnBYBFS4CiVh9x9q3EwZxSCRTahMPuFFhP3DavJ0Ls3dc/s200/DSCN1247.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Wednesday 10th August: Fethiye<br />
After a final swim , snorkel and another great brakfast - french toast no less! - we sailed through seas like a mill pond to return to Fethiye. After bidding everyone a fond farewell - how many times do you kiss the cheek of a french person?? - we staggered back to the Hotel - the Yildirim Guesthouse - to shower, collect our luggage and generally prepare for an afetrnoon of getting to know Fethiye.<br />
We noticed, with great delight on Ewan's part, and great horror on ours, that Fethiye too has a Citadel. There was the essential Turkish flag flying on top of a sheer cliff with some Crusader fort ruins for good measure. Great!! We did want to see the tombs that Fethiye is famous for, so after some negotiations, as follows, we headed upwards from the town. The negotiations included the phrases " Don't come if you're going to complain" and "If we don't get there don't be mean to us" as examples of the fine art of negotiation we have perfected this trip.<br />
We were delighted to see that the tombs didn't really require a huge amount of climbing and they were in reasonable condition and very interesting. I have yet to understand the motivation to bury people in rock tombs in the sides of cliffs: maybe it's to minimise the chance of them being robbed. Who knows. These were dated at 350 BC so they've survived well.<br />
In Lycian times ( 450 BC) the local heroes and wealthy nobleman were buried, much more conveniently, in huge stone sarcophagi, which are dotted around the town. They have been left in their original place and civilisation has occurred around them, even to the point of building roads around them..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8YlajJ1KHzHPztETgCjJ-mtvgGXQSouguAzASU1RScGlbuB4BQCSfFp2Lh3bBsMyP66ItQ7h5CA856zPPdQN9jUkxBS5_tn7WbLJr9Bjd74J1AcpKk9_vDjaTKkclEJqirM6pM0lm9Mp/s1600/DSCN1255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8YlajJ1KHzHPztETgCjJ-mtvgGXQSouguAzASU1RScGlbuB4BQCSfFp2Lh3bBsMyP66ItQ7h5CA856zPPdQN9jUkxBS5_tn7WbLJr9Bjd74J1AcpKk9_vDjaTKkclEJqirM6pM0lm9Mp/s200/DSCN1255.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A couple of sarcphagi in a park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One of the important eating experiences in Fethiye is eating seafood fresh from the sea and the best place is the fish market in the centre of town. Unlike our markets there is a a central market area with restaurants arranged around the outside. You buy the seafood you fancy and take it to one of the restaurants. For 6 Lira (about $3.60). the restaurant cooks the seafood, and provides wood-fired bread rolls, fresh green salad and garlic butter. We tried the calamari, sea bass and sea bream, all of which was very nice. There were some local cats wandering around and the vendors occaisionally tossed them a fish: they seemed very content.<br />
There seems to be lots of poms here, and we had to laugh when a family arrived and the daughter ( about 12 years old) took one look and said "I don't like fish!" at which point the moher said" Smile for the photo and that's all there is!". Oh the joy of family travel!<br />
Thursday 11th August: Fethiye<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLoHtPQv6WFui9DKVw7BKxxojHBkxKpdtN3quUBMyafC9bQxd6Hqe6eIc5zqBfV9FLp1wOrOBad_jkM-1DiAbuaFPmX5_0KQPkEtYLKsq9GRcK9xscKv3UQ_1j_VkVBeAW0PQf3yuYSc9/s1600/DSCN1307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLoHtPQv6WFui9DKVw7BKxxojHBkxKpdtN3quUBMyafC9bQxd6Hqe6eIc5zqBfV9FLp1wOrOBad_jkM-1DiAbuaFPmX5_0KQPkEtYLKsq9GRcK9xscKv3UQ_1j_VkVBeAW0PQf3yuYSc9/s200/DSCN1307.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>We decided we would be brave and head to a gorge outside Fethiye on one of the local minibuses or dolmus. We had investigated the location of the Otogar or bus park and managed to get aboard the right bus for the 45 minute trip. Well......it was supposed to take 45 minutes! It turned out to be a multipurpose bus - not only did it transport people waiting at the bus stop or at the side of the road, it also collected people from obscure little villages away from the highway and transported various other bits and pieces - a huge stack of tolet paper, car spare parts and one small boy! On the way back we stopped at a house in a village and a man came rushing out quickly buttoning up his fly and doing up his belt! There's a story there! Consequently it took more than one and a half hours each way instaed of 45 minutes, but fascinating trips they were..<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyUzZFz4rLIyH6LQIJdPnccuNqwYYXZ-ngmVcQ6zb48f7UKdaDft6dfa914loKxah7on52pnPox8XaT0mh_AxTpUQ9ROip8__yRX6GJ88OVftB4AhoJg2YVcvsiVwdPT6PyPhMWmueNda/s1600/DSCN1311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyUzZFz4rLIyH6LQIJdPnccuNqwYYXZ-ngmVcQ6zb48f7UKdaDft6dfa914loKxah7on52pnPox8XaT0mh_AxTpUQ9ROip8__yRX6GJ88OVftB4AhoJg2YVcvsiVwdPT6PyPhMWmueNda/s200/DSCN1311.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Saklikent is famous for its narrow granite gorge which, at this time of the year, can be walked if you are happy to get wet to the top of your thighs as you wade through the river. Dressed in our best sandals and shorts we were prepared - especially with the assistance of a canyon guide - to make it through. The first section is a wooden walkway above the river which leads to some steps down into the rocky floor of the gorge and the fast-flowing river. The water isn't deep but we had to hold hands to avoid being swept away, and to try and keep the bags and camera dry. Once we were in the gorge we just walked for 1.5 kilometres in mostly ankle deep water over smooth granite rocks and stones.When we came to an impassable waterfall we turned around and walked back. It was very spectacular and in the sections where there were pools and large rocks, quite demanding.<br />
To recuperate we had some gozleme ( filled pancakes) for lunch sitting at a restaurant which juts into the river: very relaxing.<br />
After another long trip back - this time in wet shorts- we were relieved to get back and have a siesta before wandering around town and eventually having dinner.. The temperature was in the high 30's so it didn't take long for us to dry out fortunately.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too many choices! <br />
The turkish delight shop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwKOHEAXDPa547QmD_tejsDhldYqguOR95JK9efkqIAEKidHlcldXW2k_z1cPgFWAb3DQxV4LNe7vEQlLjF5_Ofhyphenhyphenx7EypZAzQfARypb8LDPVaKP7cMjESPjIpwhMXuo_ap9ox9jfqI8R/s1600/DSCN1338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwKOHEAXDPa547QmD_tejsDhldYqguOR95JK9efkqIAEKidHlcldXW2k_z1cPgFWAb3DQxV4LNe7vEQlLjF5_Ofhyphenhyphenx7EypZAzQfARypb8LDPVaKP7cMjESPjIpwhMXuo_ap9ox9jfqI8R/s200/DSCN1338.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fabulous spices and peppers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-25246595476801872532011-08-10T08:59:00.001-07:002011-08-10T12:48:10.320-07:00Bobbing around in the blue of the MediterraneanSunday 7th August - Tuesday 9th August : Fethiye and the Mediterranean<br />
I'm sitting on the back deck of the 35 metre boat, the Ros, as it bobs up and down in a small cove not far from the coast of Turkey. I think a lack of interest in more ruins was evident when Erin and I were discussing with Ewan what was next on our schedule! We were helped along by a woman in our hotel in Goreme who had just done one of these boat trips and highly recommended it. It wasn't as expensive as we anticipated, so here we are having booked into the 3 nights/four days island-hopping cruise..<br />
Last Sunday we rose at 5.30am (much to Erin's horror) and drove to Fethiye through a winding mountain pass. Fethiye is a small port famous for the boat trips that commence or end there. After delivering Frankie the Ford Focus back to Avis we wandered around looking for the boat. ( Actually the Ford Focus had become the Focu - as the 's' had mysteriously disappeared- but we noticed that a number of similar cars had become Focu too so there's a mystery!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFaLtTtLuwQE0OE3BpvHFo0JzN-J5eRRZUiLB37oA-aYzFyRQml0OcO8DrVtkTBZL3IMN2qCQMeGNzo7u-_hu5YEnbAlUxHmxNabySPHttQK2XjS7l2za18EoATFw8P52laZ2MtgcHyvL/s1600/DSCN1102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFaLtTtLuwQE0OE3BpvHFo0JzN-J5eRRZUiLB37oA-aYzFyRQml0OcO8DrVtkTBZL3IMN2qCQMeGNzo7u-_hu5YEnbAlUxHmxNabySPHttQK2XjS7l2za18EoATFw8P52laZ2MtgcHyvL/s200/DSCN1102.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ros</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Ros is owned by Ros, an Australian from Hobart, in partnership with Amit, who captains the boat and looks as if he never sets foot on dry land. He apparently has been at sea for the last 103 days, as this is the high season for tourists like us. It accomodates 18 people on board including Sunny who is the cook and general roustabaout. We booked into a bunk room with only 2 beds, because Ros assured us that everyone sleeps on deck, which we so hvaing three beds wasn't necessary.<br />
As we pulled away from the port I was disappointed to see that the water was green, but very soon it had become the most amazing deep blue colour, not like Anglesea or Port Phillip Bay. It's also exceptionally clear so despite the fact that it is very deep in places, you can see every stone on the bottom and fish swimming around without even bothering to find a snorkel and mask. Ewan and Erin did lots of snorkeling to check the fish out at close range.<br />
So we are a motley group: quite a few Australians, but a Canadian French family, a French judge , a French med student and boyfriend, an American couple on honeymoon and so on. It's fascinating to talk to people from different places about their lives and their travels.<br />
How have we spent the last few days stuck on the boat I hear you ask????? Well it's been a frenetic pace and far too many challenging decisions to be made. Will I throw myself in the water now or read my book? Does anyone know when dinner is on? Do I need a cold wine or some paech juice now? Would a G and T be better? Should I go snorkelling around the cove? And so on.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful blue of the Mediterranean</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our first plunge into the Mediterranean was a surprise as the water is warm and very salty so you can float and swim with ease: consequently we seem to spend a lot of time bobbing around in water chatting. You don't have to work hard to stay afloat because of the salt so if you want to actually exercise you have to make yourself do a few strokes to burn up a few calories!<br />
Which brings me to the food which has been fabulous: Amit actually has a recipe book which we will definitely buy as he is a trained chef, as well as a dive master, marriage celebrant, Captain and heaven knows what else. The local rose has been a huge hit too!<br />
We have spent the last few days island-hopping usually changing spots a couple of times a day and ending in a secluded and very sheltered cove so that we can all sleep. We have stopped at Butterfly Valley which was full of day tourists and at Oludeniz, where some of our lot went tandem paragliding strating at the top of a mountain with sheer cliffs next to the beach and floating down to the beach itself. It is apparently the highest paragliding experinece anywhere at 1960 metres! You'll be very surprised to hear that I didn't volunteer! It is quite an experience watching the coloured parachutes drift slowly down, and occaisionally doing spirals, from such a height. <br />
The only downside is that when we hit the open sea between coves it gets pretty rough so a few peple including me have been sea sick. But captain Amit gives out the magic seasickness pills, and although they make you drowsy, after you've had a nap you feel a million dollars. I've had them twice and Erin once, but Ewan hasn't been queasy at all. <br />
It has been a very relaxing enjoyable few days. Ewan and Erin have been snorkelling and spotting all sorts of fish and we've spent hours flaoting around. You don't have to do anything at all if you don't want to so it's just heaven. The islands are full of interesting ruins. The most energetic activity has been a walk to the top of a rock hill, which Ewan did whilst Erin and I went for yet another swim!<br />
We've seen lots of boats that are just travelling around for the summer enjoying the blue water, the sea breeze and the warm weather. It will be hard to disembark tomorrow!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK19r385GjFUOYg9Fz4uFip6AWAdgyeu5xEEtZU4i8VKsLW2oueUrEFW9IDkXyUXeEeMTeqOyR_zcgv2KS2Qumz_36fjGPcCdnlFagGNXze6AkyJRra_Vi_JA-lqXYmGaXJKDyfe8sxu2v/s1600/DSCN1186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK19r385GjFUOYg9Fz4uFip6AWAdgyeu5xEEtZU4i8VKsLW2oueUrEFW9IDkXyUXeEeMTeqOyR_zcgv2KS2Qumz_36fjGPcCdnlFagGNXze6AkyJRra_Vi_JA-lqXYmGaXJKDyfe8sxu2v/s200/DSCN1186.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleeping on deck: very comfy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDb72TTf4_J6gpcw_YAepQUJpQ5jcr5d1B0bwiXGmHi3UFX8I3wTK_3VWOQH18FEZYFtyBZyDAjOMaHlh2THsGmy2NtsIHdVXABvFz0ZKcmquGDs4gFJIubioMMjPD8CLl-L3D2-X8NsNH/s1600/DSCN1141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDb72TTf4_J6gpcw_YAepQUJpQ5jcr5d1B0bwiXGmHi3UFX8I3wTK_3VWOQH18FEZYFtyBZyDAjOMaHlh2THsGmy2NtsIHdVXABvFz0ZKcmquGDs4gFJIubioMMjPD8CLl-L3D2-X8NsNH/s200/DSCN1141.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset from one of the coves where we spent the night</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-91901427507899566702011-08-10T08:32:00.000-07:002011-08-13T09:13:26.489-07:00Shining white PamukkaleThursday 4th August: Egirdir <br />
Another lot of drumming through the night, which Ewan managed to sleep through - unbelievable! Apparently they are to wake everyone up so they can eat before the fasting for Ramadan commences at 4am.<br />
Over breakfast we had a conversation with an American girl who is bike riding around Turkey alone, having brought her bike with her. She and Ewan decided to go for a ride together to a place called Acsun, which Ewan can describe. She is very fit : does lots of cycling, rock-climbing, snow boarding etc - should be interesting for Ewan.<br />
Erin and I were on a mission to post back some warm woollies we don't need and two bloody vuvuzelas that she bought in Cape Town and are cluttering up her bag. Fortunately the friendly guy in the Post office saw us as a mercy mission and found a box, used half a roll of tape and organised the whole deal, although the cost was rather astronomical. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbl-WNpI6hKKNlvP0kzlXG5SieDfS0whVQHMRLtgSRfnNkrpAPGnXoO0pYhdPF1TNAGegbP5QwktNJXsB13hkeX7PdKt44tPT-3lOyaY1O5b2Nwd7BuHyjFEAO5uleC-P5PlAZM3M43h7/s1600/DSCN0871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbl-WNpI6hKKNlvP0kzlXG5SieDfS0whVQHMRLtgSRfnNkrpAPGnXoO0pYhdPF1TNAGegbP5QwktNJXsB13hkeX7PdKt44tPT-3lOyaY1O5b2Nwd7BuHyjFEAO5uleC-P5PlAZM3M43h7/s200/DSCN0871.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erin negotiating the purchase of some <br />
of the local peaches:<br />
delicious!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our next stop was the weekly market where the stalls had overflowed from the Market Square into the streets and lanes beyond. We had a great time wandering around and buying some treats and the makings for a picnic. The stall holders were happy to do charades with us so we could get what we wanted, and to have their pictures taken. Our minimal knowlwdge of numbers came in handy a few times but I'm sure, as there were few tourists, that we were a source of entertainment to all. There were no local handcrafts at all, but endless stalls of long baggy pants that the elderly ladies wear here in sombre colours, lots of scarves and socks, and men selling ladies underwear! We were rather intrigued to find a stall selling swimwear which provided head to toe swimming outfits for Muslim women, including lycra scarves, dresses and leggings in pastel colours. We bought olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers ( that were not chili hot: that was interesting miming!), crumbly goat's cheese, fresh bread, turkish delight (of course!), pistachios, peaches ( twice the size of ours and very juicy), tiny crunchy pears, local apples (not very nice) AND the largest nectarines I've ever seen - about twice the size of the peaches. Not a bad morning's work!<br />
After a reviving cup of chai (tea) at the local cafe we took all of our purchases back to the Hostel, made a picnic and Erin and I set off for a stroll along the Causeway out into the lake We found a grassy Park with lots of shade and settled down for lunch and a long read of our books. Very relaxing!<br />
As we headed back to the Hostel Ewan appeared at the bike shop looking rather hot, and drenched in water which he'd poured over himself: The temperature was in the 30's but I think his level of fitness wasn't what it was when he left home. After a swim we wandered back to the Causeway and had dinner on the banks of the lake, enjoying the cool breeze.<br />
Friday 5th August: Ergidir to Pamukkale<br />
After another night of drums and call to prayer we packed up and headed out of the mountains towards Pamukkale in the south. It's one of those places EVERY tourist in Turkey goes, so we were no exception.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSj705QbSl67gY8hHKvnDFuiYzOIqNFMk7WbTuT81uQqWThIKlztqg7k544yBkHCssnZqOXLJmPY_RnO885DWc6JrBEb_o6sMwC_htyFRcgBxwcxGw85NVgSFIXWS2RJ6V67Mviihlv3k/s1600/DSCN0947.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSj705QbSl67gY8hHKvnDFuiYzOIqNFMk7WbTuT81uQqWThIKlztqg7k544yBkHCssnZqOXLJmPY_RnO885DWc6JrBEb_o6sMwC_htyFRcgBxwcxGw85NVgSFIXWS2RJ6V67Mviihlv3k/s200/DSCN0947.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The reconstructed Nymphaeum at Sagalossus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>On the way we stopped off to visit some ruins: no surprise when Ewan is planning the agenda! I have to say these were fantastic and very absorbing. The place is called Sagalossos and it's a ruined ancient city backed by sheer rock at the top of a huge mountain where snow lies for most of the year. For 2-3 months each year Belgian archaelogists and their menagerie of experts excavate there. We had the good luck to have one of the Belgian historians guide us around for free, to show us the work they have done. The site dates back to the 12 th century BC and despite its seeming isolation at the top of the Mountain it was an important city in Hellenistic and Roman times. Even Alexander the Great came through. It wasn't used after a massive earthquake in the 7th Century. Water from natural streams trickles through and the view from the top of the Ak Dag (White Mountain) was remarkable. <br />
Unfortunately there were no archaelogists at work as they were having a long weekend but there was plenty of evidence of their work. The Belgians have used sponsors funding to reconstruct some parts of the buildings using the actual stone that was excavated onsite. It was very exciting to see a 'Nymphaeum' with columns, statues and a natural spring providing freezing cold drinkable water straight from the mountain. The problem with a lot of ruins is that they are ruined!! So you have to use a lot of imagination to recreate what they actually were. So it was fascinating to see how it would have looked (and today when we went to Hierapolis there was a ruined nymphaeum and we knew exactly how it should look).<br />
Eventually we covered the rest of the kilometres to Pamukkale, after driving very carefully down the narrow winding road from Sagalossos. We encountered the usual maniacs overtaking on blind curves but managed to arrive safely, only to be horrified at the heat when we jumped out of our air-conditioned car! After having a swim at the Hotel in a slightly dubious pool we wandered around the tiny town and had dinner at our hotel. The mistake we made was to walk around with our copy of The Lonely Planet as 3 of the restauranteurs looking for business made sure we knew they were mentioned in it and one even had a banner saying 'Recommended by Lonely Planet' hanging in the breeze! <br />
Saturday 6th August: Pamukkale<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZmfSg0RVCZETR2XuOvKEPSvI8zegHE0qFr_i1k0TV4M9ILQSWP22rZlyxQilByUvE64AUQtY6TTH1UmqImBMmNYv0XxZpeVnZbMou3o7frAnwnoSfPZF_G-ODn1pDqdQyX_gozWmfDBv/s1600/DSCN1015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZmfSg0RVCZETR2XuOvKEPSvI8zegHE0qFr_i1k0TV4M9ILQSWP22rZlyxQilByUvE64AUQtY6TTH1UmqImBMmNYv0XxZpeVnZbMou3o7frAnwnoSfPZF_G-ODn1pDqdQyX_gozWmfDBv/s200/DSCN1015.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not snow: white travertine!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>To avoid the crowds we didn't dilly dally and we started the trek from the south gate to the top of the travertine mountain with very few others. As we approached the top we realised that the Tour busses go to the top and let the tourists wander down the hill. So we had to weave our way through increasing numbers of people.<br />
Pamukkale will be forever in my mind because of two things:<br />
1. For those of you who have no idea about Pamukkale it is a mountain of white travertine marble that has natural springs running down it forming beautifual aqua pools. It's supposed to rejuvenate and heal any problems you might have. It was a wonderful experience walking barefoot up the shining white travertine with water from warm thermal springs running over your feet and then paddling in aqua pools of slightly milky water. Nothing like I've ever seen elsewhere.<br />
2. We were also amazed at the number of grossly overweight middle-aged and elderly women in skimpy bikinis posing for photos taken by men in speedos that were far too small for the size of their bellies.( Pictures to follow!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivcOKpp7OhkmFX1FZ9bAxiSZvqPu1GsuNX3rcNZUu5nN3S6KLIn3pHeWdblI0TFireNVhG_ghul7Tuo-Bj9fIN9-ZeiG3ALIXGvgQ-khf88QCHG4hgNFHqRlajfhO7E8NUCRxcaRtbxUKK/s1600/DSCN1037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivcOKpp7OhkmFX1FZ9bAxiSZvqPu1GsuNX3rcNZUu5nN3S6KLIn3pHeWdblI0TFireNVhG_ghul7Tuo-Bj9fIN9-ZeiG3ALIXGvgQ-khf88QCHG4hgNFHqRlajfhO7E8NUCRxcaRtbxUKK/s200/DSCN1037.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too far away to appreciate the size of this woman ....<br />
and the size of her bikini! <br />
And why do people have to strike such odd poses for photos???!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Erin and I had a lovely time commenting on them and their choice of bathers! Made me feel slim and sylph-like which I certainly am not!<br />
At the top of the travertine mountain you put your shoes back on and wander around an ancient Roman site called Hierapolis, some of which is quite intact. It really stretched our imagination as most of what once was a large city is just piles of stone. The exception was an old Roman baths which had been turned into a Museum, and a huge amphitheatre which could seat 13,000 people. The marble seats are all still in place and the actual theatre stage is being reconstructed by the Italians.<br />
One might ask why every other European country is helping restore Turkish history and one would be spot on the money, as we have seen very little investment from the Turkish government at the historic sites we've visited. One of the more cynical replies from the Belgian historian, was that as the current ruling party is strongly Muslim they are not interested in spending money unearthing Greek Roman or Christian Era sites, but who knows the real answer??!! <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMKbuF-G0UzIiz9xj8MiN46zGVc68VjwBGiQRPlCzb-kimylQ7-Hk3aglJ2Ij7IBIJ1LrfB4AiGpNahrDWTNQhZqNHd5cFga7xZWTksLy8oJjO7ExeeFkWeoma4hxIF0pPJfxvQHVr87k/s1600/DSCN1081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMKbuF-G0UzIiz9xj8MiN46zGVc68VjwBGiQRPlCzb-kimylQ7-Hk3aglJ2Ij7IBIJ1LrfB4AiGpNahrDWTNQhZqNHd5cFga7xZWTksLy8oJjO7ExeeFkWeoma4hxIF0pPJfxvQHVr87k/s200/DSCN1081.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman ampitheatre at Hierapolis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In the heat our imaginations could no longer conjure up the entire city - in fact mine could only imagine a cold icy drink! - so we set off down the travertine mountain, encountering even more outrageous and skimpy bathing costumes and headed for the quiet of the Hotel.<br />
We spent the afternoon sorting out our bags as we are off early to Fethiye on the coast tomorrow. We are going to catch a boat for a three night tour drifting around the Mediterranean. There will be no blogs for a few days whilst we recuperate from all of the hectic travelling. Bon Voyage to us!! Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-84157080486143377012011-08-03T12:37:00.000-07:002011-08-03T12:37:33.352-07:00Lakeside at EgirdirTuesday 2nd August: Goreme to Egirdir<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLBjQOzfaG9KOhG1xA0iMaDjMnmPTnmX1AZAOUnZCGFF9fOSHwUARFyn-iONuPA-oRfAGo008Fnvy9frHk3hrEoDPOpOEuLGmW85wvTuHSKrLJkRKMQ8WH_-4VhNFvRjHkI91O04MXRP9/s1600/DSCN0809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLBjQOzfaG9KOhG1xA0iMaDjMnmPTnmX1AZAOUnZCGFF9fOSHwUARFyn-iONuPA-oRfAGo008Fnvy9frHk3hrEoDPOpOEuLGmW85wvTuHSKrLJkRKMQ8WH_-4VhNFvRjHkI91O04MXRP9/s200/DSCN0809.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our room</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Sadly we farewelled the crew at the cave hotel and headed south for the Lake district, and hopefully some cooler temperatures.<br />
More wheatfields, sunflowers, tractors and incomplete highways. A few instantaneous decisions made about which side of a divided highway we should be on! And plenty of Ataturk statues to admire.<br />
We've now decided that Turkey must supply most of Europe with wheat as there seems to be endless expanses of it in central Turkey. Gradually we travelled towards more mountainous country with rocky mountains twice the height of our Alps and totally deserted. Apparently there is plenty of snow for skiing in Winter, and as we made our way through some very impressive passes cut into the sheer rock faces, we saw plenty of signs warning us about ice and suggesting we carry chains. Huge orchards dotted the landscape as we approached the Lake so we're looking forward to sampling the peaches, apricots, apples and strawberries that the the area is famous for.<br />
After a few hours of travelling ( during which we practised our numbers in Turkish in preparation for some serious shopping) we arrived in Egirdir. It's a town of almost 20,000 people located around the lakeside between Lake Egirdir, the second largest lake in Turkey and the sheer cliffs of the mountains. The water is a beautiful aquamarine colour that changes all of the time. We had booked into a mosest pension called Lale Pension on the shores of the lake, and when we were shown the room we have 'the penthouse': the top floor of a four storey building with great views of the lake.<br />
The best feature is that you can swim in the lake, so we found our bathers in the bottom of our bags and plunged in. The water is warmer than Anglesea and we really appreciated the fact that you can swim without fear of hippos and crocodiles! The only downside is that there is no sand and you have to keep your thongs ( or flip-flops as Erin calls them now after being in SA) on to avoid the rocks and pebbles. It was our first swim since we left home so we've been in a couple of times, and today we followed a swim with a sit on one of the Hostel terraces reading our books and relaxing: it's a hard life!<br />
We walked out a causeway which is no wider than a road, but stretche sout into the middle of the lake. We had the local lake bass for dinner at a lakeside restaurant and enjoyed the breeze. It was quite a novelty as there was no breeze to relieve the heat of Goreme so we are very impressed with the cooler temperatures and the breeze. Apparently the local delicacy is freshwater crayfish so we'll keep an eye out for that!<br />
Clearly Ramadan is going to limit the choices in food so we 're going to employ Moira's strategy for ordering food in Namibia - not wasting time perusing a menu but just asking what they actually DO have. It must be very challenging for Muslims to operate restaurants during Ramadan so I guess they limit the choices so they can spend less time preparing food whilst they are fasting. Many of the restaurants and cafes here appear to be closed. It won't be a problem I'm sure: no danger of us starving! <br />
I was woken at about 4am in the morning by someone walking the street and drumming very loudly. It seemed to commence at the local Mosque which is in the next street, so I think it was to remind locals that the fasting was about to commence. The other two didn't hear a thing: half their luck!<br />
Wednesday 3rd August: Egirdir<br />
Ewan is keen to go on a bike ride so we went exploring in the car to see if we could find a route that didn't involve too much steep uphill. It is a challenge finding our way around as Gloria, the GPS, which has the " Streets of Turkey software, doesn't appear to know anything about country roads, so she's been relegated to the glove box in disgrace. The maps provided by the Tourism Ministry have lots of information about every citadel,sport and attraction available, but not much about the actual roads. Needless to say, with our total lack of understanding of Turkish road signs we became hopelessly lost in the middle of the moutains - all very picturesque of course. We ended up in a rocky village where the only inhabitants appeared to be a 10 year old boy and a herd of black goats, neither of whom were much help! Given that we weren't in a 4WD and we had seen no other vehicles for some kilometres we decided to retrace our steps. This gully was very interesting - over decades the rocks had been cleared from the flat sections and they had been recently ploughed for spring sowing. The rocks had been used as the primary building material to construct fences, houses, sheds and roads.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-37RUwwlQk/TjmjVlIXhGI/AAAAAAAAAFY/jRSccLq0k_4/s1600/DSCN0820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-37RUwwlQk/TjmjVlIXhGI/AAAAAAAAAFY/jRSccLq0k_4/s200/DSCN0820.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div>Ewan needed to rest up for his bike ride tomorrow so we had a swim and relax, before strolling into town for more local fish, stuffed eggplant and peppers and more delicacies. there was a young Korean girl wandering around on her own so we adopted her for dinner. She had been to Greece and Turkey travelling on her own, which must be challenging. She seemed pleased to spend some time with us and we walked her back to her hostel, just near ours.Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-39099104518387412282011-08-01T22:18:00.000-07:002011-08-01T22:18:10.529-07:00Up, Up and away in Goreme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mSQTkTQapHwsoXdUv_-JkjsDDPRoERB2KdaWzooELUBzr6rPypzqo0uFedGaQzdM8yBFDMmpXvpuNURVCPr0UW20QABKuCiaHhqmhcZovyFxWxuaIWGFtn3lTbQIH0u1ET6UMhGjq_Yr/s1600/DSCN0779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2mSQTkTQapHwsoXdUv_-JkjsDDPRoERB2KdaWzooELUBzr6rPypzqo0uFedGaQzdM8yBFDMmpXvpuNURVCPr0UW20QABKuCiaHhqmhcZovyFxWxuaIWGFtn3lTbQIH0u1ET6UMhGjq_Yr/s200/DSCN0779.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSBry6qr1CdMkgg7O2eDPOTVlfghiqjoxqzg3TimjWbdB0onatxF5iVji9_9r1lTqGFcM_2tI4LjQHsPsAHCaa4N_MhvB2PVxvjk-pDr96A0x6Dzp6cyjgvwQxAludtXmad5ElmnAEOih/s1600/DSCN0727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSBry6qr1CdMkgg7O2eDPOTVlfghiqjoxqzg3TimjWbdB0onatxF5iVji9_9r1lTqGFcM_2tI4LjQHsPsAHCaa4N_MhvB2PVxvjk-pDr96A0x6Dzp6cyjgvwQxAludtXmad5ElmnAEOih/s200/DSCN0727.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOl5LXE-ckZZA0n45PEv_bTmXdbaZVCSYpgTOO1KD_G01Jr5Z6JI_q-AIWO0oR0Z_nUW5EJY8wTu1YzEAOVdNV_Da3H6fKgJEfeTvVIqkZccMqFsqqB7WCkLwTw_yrr4WIn5bn4U4LsDw/s1600/DSCN0750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOl5LXE-ckZZA0n45PEv_bTmXdbaZVCSYpgTOO1KD_G01Jr5Z6JI_q-AIWO0oR0Z_nUW5EJY8wTu1YzEAOVdNV_Da3H6fKgJEfeTvVIqkZccMqFsqqB7WCkLwTw_yrr4WIn5bn4U4LsDw/s200/DSCN0750.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTF6Echn9xt9oOWTvQytjwGS57bRMB2kovULZ1ueP53xNHdzaM5WFFzIoSQcNx0311lH5x766KBvw1Apl6TtSb-orrIZxJ9WFcC800HyoM2SaKLcGf1pLjLNhQPLDPpKo7lrveuGjuCd9B/s1600/DSCN0736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTF6Echn9xt9oOWTvQytjwGS57bRMB2kovULZ1ueP53xNHdzaM5WFFzIoSQcNx0311lH5x766KBvw1Apl6TtSb-orrIZxJ9WFcC800HyoM2SaKLcGf1pLjLNhQPLDPpKo7lrveuGjuCd9B/s200/DSCN0736.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div>Monday 1st August: Goreme (popn.2000 plus tourists)<br />
It seems that it is absolutely compulsory to do a balloon flight whilst in Goreme. There are 17 balloon companies, they fly about 320 days of the year with an average of 40-45 balloons per day and they have baskets that carry from 10-35 people so it's really big business! <br />
After much consideration we decided we should go, despite the cost. The young guy Cemal, who runs the Hotel with his family, is a balloon pilot so we 'negotiated' with him, almost to the point where I thought we would end up with free steak knives. Today was the day and much to Erin's consternation we had to be ready to be picked up at 4.30am. We were piled into a mini bus, which picked up some other tourists from different hotels on the way and were deposited at the Atmosfer Balloons office. The only movement in town was fleets of minibuses collecting people. We were horrified to see literally hundreds of people waiting at the office to go on balloon flights too! And that was only one of the companies available. As we drove off to the Balloon Launch Area there were buses and half-inflated balloons everywhere. We only had 10 people in our balloon, which was great. We all clambered in, got the safety talk ( "do not leave the balloon at any time until told to do so"- very funny!) With some gas being expelled into the balloon and various ropes to guide it's departure, we finally floated off the ground into the wide blue yonder! For the first few minutes we kept an eye on all of the other balloons taking off at the same time, some of them so close they were touching each other. You can see from the photos how fabulous the view is as the sun comes up so I won't rattle on. For an hour we floated at various heights, from so close to the ground that Cemal picked some apricots from a local farmer's tree, and so high that we were more than 1000 metres above Goreme, and 2000 meteres above sea level.<br />
It was my first time in a balloon and I have to admit I wasn't sure if I would get airsick as I do in small planes, but It was just great: very smooth and quiet ( except for the theme song from Titanic which Cemal played after he told us that the balloon was named the TItanic! You'll note he didn't tell us that before we left the ground!).<br />
He had radio contact with the other balloon pilots and with the ground crew who had a trailer for the balloon and a minbus for us. We managed to land on the trailer which I thought was rather remarkable. Erin was anointed co-pilot and had to pull on a long rope which opened the top of the balloon to helpit to deflate. Then we had a glass of champagne and cherry juice, some cake and were presented with our certificates, whilst the ground crew tried to squeeze the balloon back into its bag. eventually all of he females had to sit on it to help compress it: Erin first!<br />
By the time we returned to the Hotel it was 7.30am and we were exhausted : Erin and I fell asleep for a few hours but Ewan walked into town for a coffee, looked up the sports results etc and eventually fell asleep. We decided that we would have lunch in town, then go for a drive rather than walk in the heat again.<br />
One of the key reasons for the town being so quiet is that Ramadan started today for all of the Muslims. Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country so most of the population will be following Ramadan. They fast from 4.00am until 8pm every day for a month. They are also not allowed to drink anything even water, which in this heat which must be very risky for some: we've been drinking litres every day!. People who are frail or are unwell can bend the rules but anyone who is healthy is expected to follow them. There are a lot of vineyards here and it seems many of the Muslims do drink alcohol during the year: when they are asked about the number of vineyards, they just laugh and shrug their shoulders. As with their dress there seems to be varying levels of piety. In some places everything basically closes down during this month, but there is enough diversity here for most restaurants to be open: the waitress at the Borek cafe where we had lunch is from Iran and is enroute to migrate to Canada as a refugee.<br />
Before I forget I have to apologise for the stupid text being so narrow on the blog and when I insert photos ( which takes forever!) the text is even more difficult to read. Can't seem to alter it at all unfortunately. It is almost impossible to insert photos where you want them to go so if they seem a bit hit and miss just overlook that - and the spelling tooDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-15788729859693256902011-08-01T02:53:00.000-07:002011-08-01T21:46:16.992-07:00Gorgeous Goreme!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goreme landscape</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Friday 29th July - Amasya to Goreme</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoZ6ydwSIIdrpNLEECfo7KFt71NaOEA83AO0AhANAm7OHRO6ZKPgOhKDAiER-QPBaCgGHvFsgTk2HIMEb5p6UUF2GHoOYM04YyzFJqw00ilo4ZzxryxL7KQ1Aeq-U49NCpnraffrmogtl/s1600/DSCN0701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoZ6ydwSIIdrpNLEECfo7KFt71NaOEA83AO0AhANAm7OHRO6ZKPgOhKDAiER-QPBaCgGHvFsgTk2HIMEb5p6UUF2GHoOYM04YyzFJqw00ilo4ZzxryxL7KQ1Aeq-U49NCpnraffrmogtl/s200/DSCN0701.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The view from the car</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"></span> <span style="font-size: small;">For hundreds of kilometres we drove south through the wheatbelt of Turkey to reach Goreme.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The roads varied from super highways to country roads, with a huge amount of roadworks in progress, but only a minimal amount of the new work actually completed. Ewan did a great job of staying on the right side of the road, which is very challenging when you negotiate roundabouts. Of course Erin and I are invaluable assistants in keeping him not only on the straight and narrow, but also on the RIGHT side of the road. There was some muttering about back seat drivers, but I'm sure he appreciates our assistance - well, most of the time.(Mum, he did mention something about me turning into you, but I'm sure he meant it as a compliment! - no he didn't:ES )</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We are convinced that the Turks make a point of ignoring road rules and speed limits at all times. Every day we have been on the road, at least twice we have been faced with someone heading for us on our side of the road whilst overtaking. I think it might be a test of their manhood to only overtake on blind corners. As we travelled from Amasya there were huge numbers of tractors, often pulling one or two trailers loaded with grain, bales of hay and people, or all of the above.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We stopped at several large service staions for sustenance along the way, and the last one had its own mosque - not a big feature of Australian service stations.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As we approached Goreme the endless rolling hills, mountains, fields of hay, green valleys and market gardens ceased, and were replaced by the amazing limestone cliffs and formations for which the Cappodocia Region is famous (and which has earnt it a World Heritage listing).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Cappodocia is an enormous region with an endless variety of natural formations above the ground, and many man-made formations created within the limestone, both above and below ground.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We eventually found our hotel - the Dervish Cave House - and discovered that our large hotel room is built out of the local stone on the side of one of these limestone 'fairy chimneys' whilst our bathroom is actually situated in the limestone, so it stays very cool. Our room has a huge Mulberry tree at the door full of ripe mulberries, and there is a grassed terrace overlooking Goreme for us to breakfast on, and to enjoy when the evenings cool down.Very nice. It's a one minute walk into town, so we wandered around trying to get our bearings. Apparently there aer only three families who still live in houses that are caves in the limestone : all of the others have been bought out and turned into hotels. There is supposed to be a limit on creating any more cave hotels, but, as happens everywhere, if you know the right people or have enough money, well........</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The first thing we noticed are the TOURISTS!!! We have only spoken to about 5 Australians since we arrived in Turkey and have seen very few tourists anywhere. But this is the place! Every evening at about 7pm huge modern buses pull up and deposit one lot of backpackers, then fill up with another load on overnight trips to Istanbul or elsewhere. There seems to be representation from every country and we have come across a few Aussies. One of the cafes advertises it's coffee by saying it is made by a barista trained in Melbourne. The village atmosphere is maintained by lots of locals as well, thank heavens - mostly older men sitting around drinking tea and playing card and board games.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There are lots of tourist craft shops too of course but I was thrilled to find the Bookshop which has English books to trade and buy! Fabulous! ( Sorry Lauren, was that as boring as me rattling on about the laundry???!!) And once we had located the Turkish Delight shop ( recommended by Grazyna) we were very happy travellers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Saturday 30th July and Sunday 31st July: Goreme</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For the last 2 days we have excelled our previous performances in seeing as much as we can. The list includes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- Tramping around various valleys to admire the limestone formations : they are different in every valley and have some imaginative names. Yesterday we went quite a few kms to Ilhara Valley which followed a winding river and was very green. In other valleys the limestone is quite pink, and less frequently, yellow.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">-Many of the little windows cut into the limestone are pigeon houses and you can see the birds disappearing into the rock face.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- With a young turkish boy (who is training to be a primary teacher) as a guide, we visited a family whose house was partly in a cave.We were ushered into the living room which was very cool by an older woman who gave us tea. She had some English and we had a great time chatting: it turned out she was "nearly 60 " and we thought she was in her 70's! It's a hard life here. She had the usual photo of Ataturk and a very old photo of turkish soldiers in WW1 which Ewan thought was interesting. She had been a carpet maker as most women were in this area. The stables for the 3 cattle were in a cave and the house was surrounded by market gardens and fruit trees, including a hige walnut tree. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- Churches: there are hundreds of churches and monasteries built during the 4th to the 11th century within the limestone to protect the early Christians. They are in various stages of decay or have been effected by vandalism. However, many are beautifully painted and surprisingly intact.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- We visited Kaymakli, one of the largest of the 200 underground cities n the area, many of them waiting to be excavated. It was a rabbit warren of small tunnels and 'rooms' directly accessible from each of the old stone houses above. They were used in times of attack and had been carefully designed to allow for 'comfortable' living when it was unsafe to be above ground. They had ventilation shafts, stables near the entrance so the animals could be let out during the day, smoke flues which allowed the smoke to escape away from the city and this one was 45 metres underground with lots of different levels. Everything had been carved out of the limestone by unfortunate slaves.It wasn't as claustrophobic as the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam, but you still wouldn't want to spend to long in there!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- The Goreme Open Air Museum had examples of all of these structures and explanations about their development so it was very interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">- And of course anything that is high has to be used as a citadel or a castle so we staggered up the stiars to the top of the Uchisar castle ( Kalesi). The views were stupendous, and so was the surprise on Ewan's face when he realised Erin and I had made it to the top!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The major achievement from all of this sightseeing was that it has been a minimum of 37 degrees celsius every day, so timing (and water bottles, sunscreen and hats!) is everything! It does cool down a little late in the day and doesn't get dark until 9pm so there is plenty of time to see everything. We have been having siestas to cope in the middle of the day, but you do seem to acclimatise eventually. Goreme has about 20cms of snow in winter too, so quite a variation in seasons.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The food here has been delicious; it has a Pide restaurant with 12 different sorts of pide (Turkish bread with filling). It's also famous for one-use clay pots full of slow-cooked stew, ususally lamb, tomatoes , eggplant, onions, herbs etc.. The opening at the top where the ingredients are added is covered by dough and the whole pot is cooked in a slow oven. The pots are scored around the midde and snapped off when the meal is ready. Delicious!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Of course we have also enjoyed the turkish delight, baklava, rice pudding, smoothies and ice cream to counteract the heat! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-44129180492262547152011-07-28T12:02:00.000-07:002011-07-28T12:02:22.991-07:00Amasya is amazing!<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Thur<span style="font-size: small;">sday 28th July: Amasya</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">With the forecast predicting temperatures in the mid-30's, we headed off early to do the essential attractions in Amasya. ( OK - I have to admit that I'm only mentioning the weather because I hear it's foul in Melbourne!).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eXNBeKo4ulJcazkreFRXUM9gR_1X2VEArh4PEYZ-3VTO7710d4nfBxXvwlmZ2PIt7COqAEjwYngaktRPreoG_Dk3XEBTD6xZ59GeO214X1s3geiiGQHrT9XF-3Ly3SVjxr6Q9mPWW-qJ/s1600/DSCN0386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6eXNBeKo4ulJcazkreFRXUM9gR_1X2VEArh4PEYZ-3VTO7710d4nfBxXvwlmZ2PIt7COqAEjwYngaktRPreoG_Dk3XEBTD6xZ59GeO214X1s3geiiGQHrT9XF-3Ly3SVjxr6Q9mPWW-qJ/s200/DSCN0386.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the tombs in the rock above a mosque</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">First stop was the Tombs of the Pontic Kings; apparently carved into the sheer limestone cliffs as early as 4BC! Why the kings thought it was a good idea is beyond me, but they have been places of cult worship and eventually used as prisons. Not a lot are accessible but it was worth it for the view.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Then we headed for the Citadel or Kale: everywhere we go there seems to be Citadels so that any approaching enemies can be dissuaded from invading before they get too close. The one here is truly stupendous and the views were just spectacular (after I'd stopped puffing and panting after climbing a million stairs!) We managed to persuade Ewan that we didn't need to walk from the river to the top, and that is was acceptable to drive up most of the way- thank heavens. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1icDcGgfs1DRjsS8Cpmx2Qj5q9mvimEYVnbqqkVSAyk-v1eracZxw3ZU90uR4gH9nialHJqbY4gweIbPPAiRPXZBKy6PlzXGXPwg1CbgtAFLSR34_SqH-1lx7LAW-_tU_-iS70dMX9zSU/s1600/DSCN0438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1icDcGgfs1DRjsS8Cpmx2Qj5q9mvimEYVnbqqkVSAyk-v1eracZxw3ZU90uR4gH9nialHJqbY4gweIbPPAiRPXZBKy6PlzXGXPwg1CbgtAFLSR34_SqH-1lx7LAW-_tU_-iS70dMX9zSU/s200/DSCN0438.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">The old part of the city is gradually being overwhelmed by large apartment blocks which seem to be the latest architectural fad across all of Turkey: they seem to have all been designed by the same person with slight colour varaitions. In Amasya they are in alarming locations clinging to steep hillsides. After I took plenty of photos, Ewan went off exploring and Erin and I practiced our appalling turkish on various families heading for the top.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We decided to have roasted corn and yet another icecream for lunch, whilst enjoying the cool of the riverbank. The corn was tougher than ours but the ice cream was great. Our new best friends at the ice cream shop were happy to see us again! Two scoops in a fresh waffle cone costs the princely sum of 1T Lira - about 60 cents Australian. Lots more flavours to try yet!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Next we headed for a Hammam or Turkish Baths, which was quite an adventure I can tell you!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We went to the oldest one in town - built in the 13th century, and restored in the 16th. Some are only for women or men at different times of the day, so we rather hesitantly stuck our heads in the door, but were encouraged to come in.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We were given a cubicle with 3 beds and no door to undress in, and a piece of cotton material the size of a sarong, to cover whatever we wanted to cover. Then we were escorted into a large room constructed entirely of marble with water troughs and pannikins for throwing water over ourselves. This was the steam room and it was hot! Within a few minutes we were all bright pink and sweating profusely: it's designed to get rid of all those impurities lurking under your skin apparently. Then a small muscly turkish guy came and took me into a small room with a marble bed and a seat next to an old stone water trough. He sat me down and I had to decide whether I would remove my cloth. I thought he had probably washed and massaged lots of fat turkish ladies before so what the heck! He took out a glove which was like a scourer and proceeded to scrub my entire body with lots of soap and using the scourer to get rid of all of the dead skin. We were all horrified about the amount he managed to scour from our supposedly clean skins! Then he lay me on the marble slab and massaged me for about 30 minutes with lots of soapy water. He was a great masseur and worked at trying to get all of our muscles pliant and relaxed. When we compared notes later he had adapted the massage to suit our various aches and pains. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mD7TJ2Km9UuSCQMxhad7Apt0_7HObA-a3dXwjv18c0oUIR_R1qrODkiiz-O8ypyv0GFYAWOsGgjN3fxQTUKEoWo1FMBPFF7RX8v0439ljDD-46wTjR7yGSBTiGS4sstGgAPtyeS4Qajj/s1600/DSCN0472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mD7TJ2Km9UuSCQMxhad7Apt0_7HObA-a3dXwjv18c0oUIR_R1qrODkiiz-O8ypyv0GFYAWOsGgjN3fxQTUKEoWo1FMBPFF7RX8v0439ljDD-46wTjR7yGSBTiGS4sstGgAPtyeS4Qajj/s200/DSCN0472.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile Ewan and Erin were still sweltering away in the steam room. I emerged and Erin was next, then Ewan. I was met by a man with a dry sarong and then he escorted me back to the room we had changed in, and wrapped me in lots of towels and propped me up on one of the beds with a cup of Chai (tea) to await the others. I felt sparkling clean and very relaxed! We seemed to be there for hours and it cost the princely sum of 20 Turkish Lira per person: about $12 AUS each. Ewan gave the masseur a big tip as the charge for that was only $3.00 each! </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2b0kFiGcbKu7tQ8et16Eg5QdYCqmehc68znZJMAc1T3YMISzLPGXucsfrN4N8Cj-vp4CKaLYyj-FlHVq4Z3ply2yUNeQzyl9_mBYu6kjiM2XvzeWB_DAftR3Mouj_Z0V6ql0Sq9ExZtT/s1600/DSCN0469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2b0kFiGcbKu7tQ8et16Eg5QdYCqmehc68znZJMAc1T3YMISzLPGXucsfrN4N8Cj-vp4CKaLYyj-FlHVq4Z3ply2yUNeQzyl9_mBYu6kjiM2XvzeWB_DAftR3Mouj_Z0V6ql0Sq9ExZtT/s200/DSCN0469.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">There are lost of touristy Hammams around but this one seemed to be very authentic as various locals wandered in. We decided we'd need to try a few just for the sake of comparison! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">After a siesta we strolled into town and used our latest acquisition - a Turkish-English dictionary - to try and order some food. We did surprisingly well and had a great meal. Noone here speaks english at all so it's a bit challenging having a conversation and ordering food.The rest of the time we mime and point a lot, which is how we managed to buy 3 varieties of baklava: delicious!</span></span>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-61451947510825015472011-07-28T07:14:00.000-07:002011-07-28T07:14:41.170-07:00Amasya here we come!Wednesday 27th July: Bogazkale to Amasya<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZoM2BHr94V9oWgVxsASTlmO8OQtMvA7VkX1iX6IfCUwkw2FOF3QM01csUX6R0dicJdSiUGgYstK4QY1JPK6N4E6Hl62DagvQ2HmypIIWktPvXYfdfrtjUG99YUrY_XgjTSZzkb3V3opS/s1600/DSCN0372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZoM2BHr94V9oWgVxsASTlmO8OQtMvA7VkX1iX6IfCUwkw2FOF3QM01csUX6R0dicJdSiUGgYstK4QY1JPK6N4E6Hl62DagvQ2HmypIIWktPvXYfdfrtjUG99YUrY_XgjTSZzkb3V3opS/s200/DSCN0372.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Frankie the Ford Focus and Erin outside the Hotel</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> After the water came on during the night we showered (more successfully this time) and did a short tour of the Bogazgale Museum before heading for the town of Amasya, about 150kms away.<br />
Ewan managed to drive without incident through fields of grain being harvested, green valleys, market gardens and endless hills which slowly increased to daunting rocky mountain ranges. Amasya is in a river valley so the town is wedged between sheer rock faces and steep mountains, and a wide river. It is a town which is the summer holiday spot for Turks, but few other tourists.<br />
We located our tiny hotel ( with 6 rooms ) in the old part of town, but it's actually brand new, although built in the old style. The temperature was increasing into the high 30's so we decided to wander along the river, have some lunch and stay as cool as possible. We did find a cute museum about the various Ottoman sultans from the area, so that kept us cool for a while (although we decided that 2 Museums per day was our limit! ).<br />
On our way back to the hotel we noticed a group of women working hard despite the heat, under the shade of a tree opposite our Hotel. One of them saw me watching them and beckoned me over . They were kneading, rolling and cooking dough to make crisp pita bread on an open fire. I said hello in my best turkish and was given some of the bread to try, from a huge pile thay had produced. I'm not sure how they tolerated the heat of the fire as I couldn't stand near it. I took some photos of them and then showed them and there were lots of giggles. They all wore headscarves and long dresses with their arms completely covered as befits thier Muslim religion, as do most of the older women here. The younger ones are also covered but in light colours and brighter headscarves. On eof the younger ones gave me an email address so we'll send the photos. I'm hoping to see them again so I can take some closeups to send them too.<br />
We did the holiday thing and wandered along the promenadeand ate Doner kebab at an open air restaurant for dinner. Ewan and Erin had another icecream form their favourite ice cream shop, where a young boy had been employed to make waffle cones endlessly - what a job!We were hoping to have a look at the main Mosque but we weren't in acceptable dress as we didn't have long skirts: T-shirts and shorts don't make the grade for Mosque visits. <br />
It is really a lovely city with trees and grass along the public areas, lots of footbridges all lit up at night and lots of people just wandering around enjoying the cool of the evening.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh84DyuFsRWfsr4oK0CZNRPlvQ1rPZm6P7Wpw1-uByQgN242Go6WZpoz0anUScQvC58bE6M7xki9ADAIARtlyQBroMIU3yrGFrfy-wLjDqPKi49Lm9p-xG4dML62XKhAONXGBzoaRR0L41I/s1600/DSCN0374.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh84DyuFsRWfsr4oK0CZNRPlvQ1rPZm6P7Wpw1-uByQgN242Go6WZpoz0anUScQvC58bE6M7xki9ADAIARtlyQBroMIU3yrGFrfy-wLjDqPKi49Lm9p-xG4dML62XKhAONXGBzoaRR0L41I/s200/DSCN0374.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qaaH_Ry9MtXYIqTmaoNuiGIItxeU9XVgfD3LGwcy3Yzg_-aa1yJU5dfZRRTd5EejfGt3SJDe-tOa2LmneAVJJxdv_2hqYsfFMnDfesWMWpIrM8nDgRyECfsbHZf5P-CtaUsy9FutYFUx/s1600/DSCN0373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qaaH_Ry9MtXYIqTmaoNuiGIItxeU9XVgfD3LGwcy3Yzg_-aa1yJU5dfZRRTd5EejfGt3SJDe-tOa2LmneAVJJxdv_2hqYsfFMnDfesWMWpIrM8nDgRyECfsbHZf5P-CtaUsy9FutYFUx/s200/DSCN0373.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-26069652490391914372011-07-26T11:40:00.000-07:002011-07-28T12:24:03.170-07:00Village Life in Bogazkale <span style="font-size: small;">Monday 25th July: Ankara to Bogazkale( Bo-haz-car-lay)<br />
After farewelling the people at the hotel we went to collect the hire car, with some trepidation on everyone's part, as they drive on the RIGHT here, and the first part of the journey was through the busiest part of town. Armed with the combined knowledge from 6 of the drivers at Avis - and after Ewan and Erin pored over the map whilst I went off to check out Marks and Spencers! - we were brave enough to set off. Erin sat in the front ( to her dismay) and navigated, whilst I was on lookout duty in the back and we were both on KEEP RIGHT! duty. Despite the exemplary preparation, we did get a bit lost briefly but the greater achievement was to to negotiate around the crazy drivers - we finally breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the highway.<br />
Turkish drivers are in a league of their own - they pull out into traffic, overtake on blind curves and don't stick to any lanes ( although admittedly many of the roads had none marked). I can see why the road toll here is so high! And that's the drivers! The pedestrians seem to care little for their lives and just step into the road without a thought. We had a small scrape with a truck which resulted in some blue paint on our new Ford Focus hire car, but it's a miracle that's all that happened.<br />
Ewan did a great job ( too right ), although we think his spatial perception has gone a bit strange and he keeps going off the right of the right lane, over the edge of the road which is rather scary when you're the passenger. Erin decided she preferred the back seat for some reason! <br />
<br />
The scenery was very different to flat Botswana: endless kilometres of hills and mountains with little vegetation - only pines and cypresses - and completely devoid of animals. Crops and market gardens were evident in the valleys but the hillsides were bare.<br />
After a couple of hundred kms we arrived at Bogazkale, which is a tiny country town with geese, cows etc and lots of fields of wheat, sunflowers and unidentified crops.<br />
It's claim to fame is it's proximity to Hattusas where there are very ancient ruins: so they're on the agenda for tomorrow. We warmed up by going to Yazilikaya to see some 13th century BC rock caves with carvings that were only discovered last century. It's amazing to look at work that was done so long ago!<br />
Tuesday 26th July: Bogazkale<br />
It's always the sign of a good holiday when you have no idea what the date or day is, and we certainly don't. After a good night's sleep only disturbed by tractors coming and going to the local Bar, and the call to prayer form the local mosque very early, we set off to Hattusas which is within walking distance. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs0Ad3LYCWw51QAS8emK3ovU40K_2UFVYZPS1qrVAEikEqhcWqiulaFj6ebSmjVHaC1543F69WnXaeO837qiAORtPgvZRyLtaBtanP1sXv1EEI62FzrqVB253f9ptWhUAzG2OlVJgausTt/s1600/DSCN0264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs0Ad3LYCWw51QAS8emK3ovU40K_2UFVYZPS1qrVAEikEqhcWqiulaFj6ebSmjVHaC1543F69WnXaeO837qiAORtPgvZRyLtaBtanP1sXv1EEI62FzrqVB253f9ptWhUAzG2OlVJgausTt/s200/DSCN0264.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reconstruction of the city wall at Hattusas</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">There's a 6 km circuit and we walked the downhill section as it is very steep and dotted with many ruins. As we were wandering around the first set of Temples trying to make some sense of what we were seeing from the information boards ( not very helpful on detail ), and various brochures, books etc, we came across a Belgian couple who are the only other guests at the Hotel. They had a local with them who was very knowledgeable about the sites, whose father had lived in Belgium, so he'd offered to show them around. We tagged along and spent 3 hours with them. It was hot but nowhere near the 38 degrees that had been predicted - fortunately.<br />
Hattusas was the capital of the Hittite empire which stretched form Syria to Europe from 1300-1600 BC. It was surrounded by 6 metre thick walls set in mountains so they could see who was coming - the views were stupendous! Part of the wall has been reconstructed to show what it would have been then. The guide made the whole thing come alive by turning rows of rocks, tunnels, mounds into rooms and a living city. Given the age there was still a lot of detail left: for example he showed us where wooden doors had been suspended in stone lintels and the scrape marks on the stone floors where the doors had dragged. There were 7 ponds/reservoirs to store water for the 15000 inhabitants, and some of the huge clay pots to store food and water remain. Lots of the decorative stone carvings had been removed and we had seen some in the Museum in Ankara, but some remained - mostly gods and kings and lions. It was really fascinating but exhausting.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VV5HwJro-dMagELaV6FZBzZ7G2U8ZXdCyAdM16qHsxXKEtrkB33glKo_ctxNbcXcg5qXsQeSakz_pUj1JeI2FyRoxWpjbeieSU-I6IkqsnnGe1J81DJtEi2ozm3HnF0EqQe3nxeQOHZH/s1600/DSCN0309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VV5HwJro-dMagELaV6FZBzZ7G2U8ZXdCyAdM16qHsxXKEtrkB33glKo_ctxNbcXcg5qXsQeSakz_pUj1JeI2FyRoxWpjbeieSU-I6IkqsnnGe1J81DJtEi2ozm3HnF0EqQe3nxeQOHZH/s200/DSCN0309.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">70 metre tunnel under the Sphinx Gate</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;">By the time we finished we were all in need of sustenance so he took us to the tea house where we sat in the shade whilst the men of the village watched us drink our tea and gallons of water!<br />
We had saved a couple of boiled eggs from breakfast and decided it was time to buy some bread and tomatoes and make lunch.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOl9PJpTJf7mwFAInqIJCoO9rTisJOtbft0LvR9leChSCWGIKDzyA-3RDjnwSs9Q0ijIJc8StlawkgzI5i7pJdRI5UKx5sj8PUlCC_c6G1K66gN8V-mEBLqtjNDi-NyEgXu1zdf7yzx1yP/s1600/DSCN0330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOl9PJpTJf7mwFAInqIJCoO9rTisJOtbft0LvR9leChSCWGIKDzyA-3RDjnwSs9Q0ijIJc8StlawkgzI5i7pJdRI5UKx5sj8PUlCC_c6G1K66gN8V-mEBLqtjNDi-NyEgXu1zdf7yzx1yP/s200/DSCN0330.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">There is one bakery in this village and it has huge clouds of woodsmoke belching from the chimney. You pay 70 turkish cents for a loaf of white bread with a crisp crust and chewy centre freshly baked.( about 50 cents Australian ) and that is the only thing the baker sells. Everywhere you go you see people carrying bags with lots of loaves of bread as it is the staple diet across Turkey.<br />
The tomatoes are heaven: big, juicy and lots of flavour not like the ones at home at all. We have them for every meal, and at breakfast they come with sliced cucumber.<br />
We went to one of the many tiny shops in the village and bought a couple of tomatoes, a cucumber, a sweet pepper ( which was not a chilli as they are easily confused) and some grapes, all of which the 12 (?) year old shop keeper put into one plastic bag. Much to Ewan's amusement he weighed them all together on an old scale without any accurate weights and pronounced "4 Lira!" (about $2.40) which we were happy to pay. After some creative miming and pointing we managed to buy some tissues and water as well. One of the boy's mates could count in English which helped us sort out the cost.<br />
We've also become addicted to sour cherry juice or soda as it is delightfully tangy and refreshing. Cherries are prolific here: we were standing under a cherry tree which was laden with cherries, which no-one seemed fussed about picking yet in Ankara the other day. <br />
However the jam here is rather weird: they clearly don't like having the fruit in the jam so it appears like jelly. And today we had a new taste sensation: rose jam. It was like jelly turkish delight: fabulous!<br />
Anyway, after lunch Erin and I collapsed and fell asleep. Ewan was keen to go to Alacahoyuk to see where a lot of the items we'd seen in the Museum in Ankara had come from. It didn't seem like a great offer to us so he went off with the local guy from this morning in the car as it is 36 kms away. It's just occurred to me that he may have needed us to navigate and yell " Stay right! ". We shall see when he returns! <br />
<br />
Ewan enjoyed his visit although there were lots of reconstructions to compensate for the treasures that had been taken form the sight. On the way the guide received a message that several of his family members had been injured in an accident nearby so they went to see what they could do. It was a nasty collision between a tractor and a car, but the injured had been taken to hospital so they continued on their way. We will be looking out for tractors on the roads now, and there are plenty of them around here as they seem to be used to transport everything and everybody in this village.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure whether it's us, but we seem destined to experience problems with various utilities: water and power in Botswana, and the same here. <br />
Last night the power to the entire town went off for a few hours, fortunately before it got dark. This afternoon, just as I'd soaped myself in the shower the water went off and although it's now late at night, it hasn't returned. Erin had to rinse me off by throwing a large container of drinking water over me! The locals are sure it will be back on tomorrow but who knows!<br />
<br />
From your half-clean and slightly soapy correspondent,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Dianne</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2kU1U-TYPDzGqHE8VkEagACPy_QzjM31n3fAnSbNLdI2m5CPkZ96s2wGqkaX4q6bFVcti9-5K1yQokUuz2IgBBANoJfgRdeUSC0Xod0YaeSfgXXAky_DZ1ymsQnFNKCLIRv-gChYLyZ8/s1600/26-07-11_1541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2kU1U-TYPDzGqHE8VkEagACPy_QzjM31n3fAnSbNLdI2m5CPkZ96s2wGqkaX4q6bFVcti9-5K1yQokUuz2IgBBANoJfgRdeUSC0Xod0YaeSfgXXAky_DZ1ymsQnFNKCLIRv-gChYLyZ8/s200/26-07-11_1541.jpg" t$="true" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't worry: this was not us!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-6643098942569401132011-07-26T11:02:00.000-07:002011-08-25T04:56:26.928-07:00Ataturk ..........<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <div style="text-align: left;"></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JlEBbqWCkDPyZlHCeM-UrJVHw-7pZ_xpoa_BhrK4y8FAHljjm6ZpByugqSjd1v5iQOn8qm8v75dJv2J2a2AKK8tHIB3qFaZb40dFfvypXk-2jrknMSGhNEB80YB1WNVz_FRMPTc4uN2f/s1600/DSCN0206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JlEBbqWCkDPyZlHCeM-UrJVHw-7pZ_xpoa_BhrK4y8FAHljjm6ZpByugqSjd1v5iQOn8qm8v75dJv2J2a2AKK8tHIB3qFaZb40dFfvypXk-2jrknMSGhNEB80YB1WNVz_FRMPTc4uN2f/s200/DSCN0206.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ataturk's tomb</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTmcMUoBiGfKMw_SGfxIc0rxUudYGteRKjr1is4GZFCo1CGdTdLAqKTXuBBQVweTgZNbJBHz0g_YMVIvxjIrI2uhK8CdoA136uVsB6tct1bSIOZyZlI-a0mZpRWxlHiE9PisbjRjPZRkh/s1600/DSCN0195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTmcMUoBiGfKMw_SGfxIc0rxUudYGteRKjr1is4GZFCo1CGdTdLAqKTXuBBQVweTgZNbJBHz0g_YMVIvxjIrI2uhK8CdoA136uVsB6tct1bSIOZyZlI-a0mZpRWxlHiE9PisbjRjPZRkh/s200/DSCN0195.JPG" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Sunday 24th July: Ankara<br />
After another sumptuous breakfast we set off for yet more culture down the hill to the Ethnographic Museum, with - what a surprise! - yet another huge statue of Ataturk outside the front door. It turned out that this lovely ottoman building was a temporary mauseleom for his body so I guess that explained the statue, but more of Ataturk later as you will see!<br />
The Ethnographic Museum was small but interesting. It had lots of the clothes worn through the ages, and examples of all of the handicrafts, etc. The most interesting exhibit, which unlike the other exhibits had no explanation at all, was the Circumcision Room. It had a mannequin of a young girl lying on a bed fully clothed with some other older females hanging around and that was that!<br />
Then we caught a taxi to the Ataturk Mausoleum - Anit Kabir - where most of Ankara had decided to spend Sunday afternoon, some arriving with flowers.<br />
Clearly the reverence shown for this guy, who was the first President of the Republic of Turkey when it was formed in 1921, is enormous (judging by the size and expense of this site!) Set amongst lovely gardens it had a huge amount of stone walkways and buildings housing not only his body somewhere under a 40 ton sarcophagus, but also his boat, cars, clothes, and personal effects, right down to his hairbrush! AND lots of information about everything he had ever done, including his leadership of the Turks at Gallipoli when he was just Colonel Mustafa. His track record is impressive in some areas as he was determined that Turkey would be a secular state and he was responsible for equal rights for women and some other important social issues. First and foremost he was a soldier and, given Turkey's long history of being plundered by everyone, he was clear that Turkey would fight any future contenders and be well-armed.<br />
There was a huge (rather kitsch) panorama painted across a long wall, which had depictions of all of the major wars in the last century. Fake trenches and war debris placed strategically in front of the panorama were an added attraction. Of course there was a description of the brilliance of the Turks at Gallipoli, with details about the Allied losses but nothing about the Turkish losses. the end of the panel was a donkey with a turkish and Australian soldier giving water to the injured soldiers: hmmmm interesting!<br />
Erin and I reached Ataturk overload somewhat earlier than Ewan. So we whizzed past the exhibitions on every person he'd ever spoken to and headed for the video about his life. Unfortunately we missed the history bit and arrived in time for the fabulousness of Turkey!<br />
I might have enjoyed it a bit more if the security guards hadn't confiscated my bacpack, including my hat and water bottle ( because I clearly look like a terrorist!) and it was hot work! Ewan forgot that he had his pocketknife with him - he likes to be prepared - so that was confiscated too. <br />
It was certainly impressive, with lots of locals and few tourists.<br />
Ewan wasn't feeling great so we went back to the Hotel room and Erin and I went to check out the local craft shops: there's some nice stuff, but we just window shopped.<br />
We had dinner at the same courtyard restaurant as the first night and finally had 'manti' which is described as turkish ravioli: handmade noodles with a meat filling mixed with tomato sauce and yoghurt. Erin and I loved it and Ewan enjoyed his grilled sea bass. After only a few days we were happy to have some varaition from the usual kebabs, kofte (meatballs) etc.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVkBiwD4J8gHPELevJtNfinGggWhYtja4jF7DoMXmy3nyJ86BM2haOBHXN-R6uucHh5GFCbtz4hSmBmd8HaJi58d3j5VmmbCCgw6CUmWOt82NPuXZD7qRdepqxs8vmOS4VVWR0fK5zR3s/s1600/DSCN0025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVkBiwD4J8gHPELevJtNfinGggWhYtja4jF7DoMXmy3nyJ86BM2haOBHXN-R6uucHh5GFCbtz4hSmBmd8HaJi58d3j5VmmbCCgw6CUmWOt82NPuXZD7qRdepqxs8vmOS4VVWR0fK5zR3s/s200/DSCN0025.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">The young waiter showed us around rest of the old house, which was filled with historical bits and pieces.<br />
When we returned to the hotel one of the young guys, who has been helping us learn Turkish, was watching football so Ewan joined him for a while. This was a blessing as then Erin and I could find a station from the 100's available via satellite ( which every dwelling seems to have) which was in english. We did see an episode of Scrubs that had been dubbed into turkish: very odd!</span>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-65864055672169640232011-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:002011-08-25T05:03:22.013-07:00Ankara- a Museum at last!Friday 22nd July: Ankara<br />
We have resolved to learn at least one turkish word a day, but unfortunately 'thank you' ( which seemed the obvious first choice) has about six syllables so we have grappled with it all day - fortunately with assistance from some kind locals along the way. Despite the fact that this is a big city there are very few english speakers at all so my fabulous mime skills will be needed here I'm sure ( much to Ewan and Erin's horror!).<br />
Breakfast in the courtyard consisted of fresh white bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives meat, white cheese, scrambled eggs, and chocolate cake! It was hard to know where to start!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favourite piece: a stag from the Early Bronze Age</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Ewan has been talking about visiting the Museum of Anatolian Civilisation here for months, so Erin and Ii were worrying about 2 days spent in an archaic Museum. But it was just fabulous (and only took a few hours!). As the name suggests it didn't get to the ADs, just the BCs ( but don't worry we'll get to them in other Museums I'm sure!). Using treasures from sites all over Turkey there were some truly fascinating displays of civilisation in Turkey from the Paleolithic era to the Urartian era ( 8th to 6th century BC). Once metals were discovered there was superb jewellery and kitchenware that I would be happy to have now.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Hqn9jhhVWx8R8UhZg9KqasK34ODzh4JwKwFYZxt9X24vagueQImChT4IQVwkInrKdrCNG6qjJNBP-RMFg7sLcr1dkYco1eWIUyU2Ox7A0N-q2n6XHpOqV2ivT3Twdeq6XR6McUgP6Wtc/s1600/DSCN0137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Hqn9jhhVWx8R8UhZg9KqasK34ODzh4JwKwFYZxt9X24vagueQImChT4IQVwkInrKdrCNG6qjJNBP-RMFg7sLcr1dkYco1eWIUyU2Ox7A0N-q2n6XHpOqV2ivT3Twdeq6XR6McUgP6Wtc/s200/DSCN0137.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the top</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Then we headed for the Citadel, going straight past our front door and continuing uphill ( puffing and panting!) until we reached a huge stone fort, which provided a 360 degree panorama for hundreds of kilometres. It consisted of huge walls, about a metre and a half wide, at ever-increasing heights getting closer to the top of the Citadel walls - none of which had any rails to prevent anyone plunging to their death. I didn't quite make it to the very top, but the other two did and I was very relieved when they came down. Given that the Turks have been invaded by everyone at some point in history this is a gret citadel: you could see an invading enemy coming days before they arrived!<br />
<br />
We spent the rest of the day wandering around, checking out the local market with lots of spices I couldn't identify and mouth-watering baklava, turkish delight and pastries, none of which we purchased (yet!). We did buy lots of nuts and dried fruit ( including turkish apricots!!) so we are well-stocked for snacks. We managed tp practice our one word and somehow communicated what we wanted. Ewan even bought some reading glasses for a mere $3 so he was impressed. <br />
<br />
Dinner at a local restaurant with turkish music and great food. We are very close to the Washington Restaurant whose claim to fame is that Hilary Clinton has eaten there. We've come to the conclusion that some other celebrity was eating there tonight as there were armed police everywhere: very off-putting!<br />
<br />
Ewan is thrilled that Cadell won the Tour de France, so I'm not sure whether finally getting to the Museum or Cadell winning was the highlight of his day!Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-39025509584768381642011-07-23T12:18:00.000-07:002011-08-25T05:07:57.124-07:00Enroute to TurkeyThursday 21st July: Jo'Burg to Ankara<br />
We spent a quiet day organising the luggage, doing some shopping and watching the Tour de France ( Ewan was in seventh heaven as it was a live broadcast - every turn of the wheel, every drop of perspiration.............for hours!!!!!!!).<br />
We did visit a place called African Romance which is a diamond mining company using South African and Botswana diamonds. It was interesting seeing the entire process resulting in a rough diamond being cut, polished etc., but it didn't result in us acquiring any unfortunately! We did see some tanzanites that are rare as they are only found in Tanzania. They were a stunning blue-purple: very beautiful.<br />
Off we went to the airport to catch the flight to Doha and then to Ankara at 10 pm. Not a lot of sleep on the plane and rather unusual combinations of food: it was Qatar Airlines: hummus with a mushroom crepe for breakfast??. It was a mere 37 degrees at 6.30am when we arrived at Doha Airport, which is being re-built. We had to stand in a queue for an hour with hundreds of others just to get through security so we could transfer to the next plane. Ridiculous! Ah, the joys of travel!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05MLl0RT5FYrQmLJ_h9wf1pTeZMj3tOBgDFMidzRaX7p4gAE2fzsa3BD9iAXd9-vXHo2W_XBfOPRFkHryDZQXVQbMT0A3o7Sm6h6jk8_lIOb-QkdmT6X3L0CVJdaQq_esOWy34iWDuwfp/s1600/DSCN0118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05MLl0RT5FYrQmLJ_h9wf1pTeZMj3tOBgDFMidzRaX7p4gAE2fzsa3BD9iAXd9-vXHo2W_XBfOPRFkHryDZQXVQbMT0A3o7Sm6h6jk8_lIOb-QkdmT6X3L0CVJdaQq_esOWy34iWDuwfp/s200/DSCN0118.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hotel was just up this cobblestoned lane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Finally we arrived in Ankara, one of the largest cities in Turkey. We caught a taxi and travelled through a huge modern city surrounded by bare hills, until we entered the oldest bit of town up a huge hill, only to discover that Ewan had booked us into a hotel in the historic Citadel area. It consists of winding cobblestone lanes, old wooden buidlings in various stages of decay, and lots of tiny shops and stalls, some with dusty faded wares.<br />
The hotel has only 6 rooms with lots of dark wood and gold curtains, bedspreads and turkish rugs and kilims ( what a surprise!). We were very pleased that it has an air conditioner as it is mid-summer here, and the temperature is in the 30's every day, but quite bearable. Erin and I collapsed in bed and Ewan went off to explore. <br />
For dinner we went to a small courtyard restaurant just up our lane, and we had what will be the first of many meals consisting of dips, pide, salad, and grilled lamb/meatballs /chicken. Very tasty.Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-70774650102789685132011-07-21T08:28:00.000-07:002011-08-25T05:15:43.085-07:00Farewell Africa!Well we're off to Turkey tonight at 10pm so it is farewell to Africa for us (this time!).<br />
<br />
What do I take from this experience?<br />
<br />
1. The concept of 'Africa Time': The pace of life in Botswana and Namibia was a very different experience from our usual hurried, harassed, never-enough-time lifestyle. People move in a languid relaxed slow way and never seem to worry about the time it takes to do anything. Queues move slowly but with no watch-watching, tapping of feet or any sign of frustration at all. What was interesting to me was how quickly we seemed to merge into this pace. I can understand the frustrations associated with getting anything completed, but actually I wonder if we wouldn't benefit from a slower pace and less stress. I'm sure this lack of drive and achievement is labelled laziness or stupidity at times, but it's not either of those, as it seems to permeate everybody and every aspect of the culture.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvnerGIuIvUWWR8H5ALDB2V3Gbz6b9yGRpQvpaTBsFe1jvpIzTgfrfco4V6skFhuQ39PlQoXWcS_1waibPpLYo-afsoruOp3H_nAy80t2Rqk2XrIykYa34lnBsOkafpA1cEmHKBckMzwq/s1600/DSCN0015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvnerGIuIvUWWR8H5ALDB2V3Gbz6b9yGRpQvpaTBsFe1jvpIzTgfrfco4V6skFhuQ39PlQoXWcS_1waibPpLYo-afsoruOp3H_nAy80t2Rqk2XrIykYa34lnBsOkafpA1cEmHKBckMzwq/s200/DSCN0015.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the electric fence on top of the high brick wall,<br />
and the guard dogs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>2. Security: We really do have it easy in Aus. I understand why South Africans would enjoy living in our fair country. We've spent 4 days living in the posh suburb of Sandton: huge houses with personal security services, boom gates to enter the suburb, guard dogs whih aren't pets, electric fences on huge high walls, barbed wire, spikes everywhere and so on. As Erin experienced livivng in the Cape Flats, precautions are necessary and risk-taking very stupid. She said she heard gunshots most nights when she was in Athlone. Once the locals recognised them as Eros School volunteers they did feel safer but never wandered around at night. When you think of the freedom our children have we do take our freedom for granted. <br />
<br />
3. Generosity : We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of strangers here.<br />
The families we travelled with could not have been more welcoming and kind to us ( and yes-they weren't axe murderers!). They had very advanced caravans and camping equipment: the kitchens were compact but would have been fine for Masterchef (which is very popular here!). Everyone shared their gourmet delights, photos, and animal adventures with us, for which we will be extremely grateful as it was the experience of a lifetime.<br />
Sonja who drove us over 600kms just because we gave her a couple of litres of diesel was another example. But even when we thought we were stranded in the middle of Botswana we were told: Don't worry: "just stand on the highway and someone will pick you up", And crazy though it seems I think we would have been, bags and all!<br />
<br />
4. Apartheid and its legacy: Today we went to a local Shopping Centre and the diversity of people was mind-boggling. In Aus. we consider ourselves to be a multi-racial community but boy, here you have people from all over the African continent, and from every religion. <br />
<br />
It seemed to us in Cape Town that all of the lowly jobs were done by black people, but the affirmative action policies here also seem to mean that whites also have difficulty finding employment if they compete for a job. It's very complex and too difficult to comprehend completely. Compared to the last time I was here, when apartheid was in full force, it is so much better for everyone but I guess it will take decades to sort out the legacy of those 40 years.<br />
<br />
Anyway I'd better pack my bag and then we're off to the Airport!<br />
<br />
your on-the-move correspondent<br />
<br />
DianneDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-76204236338726978272011-07-21T07:50:00.000-07:002011-08-26T04:48:20.063-07:00Cradle of Humankind: who's your daddy?<div class="Normal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcB-UHENz_4xdh3VNXzRdKRddksErtz9j9VGTl6oA7px1Of8Y6I36VIhd954Vq50h5D3b3SMgWrs4jNDSMRx5LrXfhHxnJi8GDUmIWB24T8vUoY1LFyaL1f_wDbF_LYKBiTHhuxXXaAB7I/s1600/DSCN9981.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcB-UHENz_4xdh3VNXzRdKRddksErtz9j9VGTl6oA7px1Of8Y6I36VIhd954Vq50h5D3b3SMgWrs4jNDSMRx5LrXfhHxnJi8GDUmIWB24T8vUoY1LFyaL1f_wDbF_LYKBiTHhuxXXaAB7I/s200/DSCN9981.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maropengo at The Cradle of Humankind</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Wednesday 20th July: Johannesburg</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Another balmy blue-skyed day in downtown Jo'Burg.</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">We had organised with our favourite taxi driver, Mish, to be picked up at 10am and make the hour trip to the Cradle of Humankind, which is a world heritage site.</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">He has taken us anywhere we have needed to go over the last few days as walking isn't acceptable.</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">I'm not sure how people who live here manage to get any exercise as you can't, especially if you're white, just wander around the streets. You don't see anybody power walking or jogging or taking dogs for a walk at all in the suburbs. We have all become very unfit: in Botswana the possibility of attack by a wild animal prevented us going for long walks, and here threat of a different sort of attack prevents the same.When we suggest we might walk somewhere the locals look a bit confused and just shake their heads in horror. It does make you appreciate the relative safety of our streets! </span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">The Cradle of Humankind is an area in the hills outside Jo'Burg where significant archaelogical finds have been made, the most significant being the skulls and skeletons of 'Little Foot' and 'Mrs Plies', predecessors of humans, whose bones have been aged at 2 million years old. Not bad eh? It seems the aborigines of Australia are considered relative newcomers at only 40.000 years old!</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">We started with a tour of Maropengo, which is a museum hidden under a grass-covered mound. It included a 'boat' ride through a tunnel showing the elements required for life: water, fire etc. Sort of corny but fun :less scary than the river caves at Luna Park!</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">There were lots of displays about the formation of earth and the evolution of the human species, which they attribute to one female in Africa, so very interesting.</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Then we had some lunch and drove to the Sterkfontein caves. We paid for Mish, the driver, to come with us as he had never been, but he was a bit concerned about the caves! We climbed down over a hundred steps and walked for 500 metres underground, some of it through narrow low tunnels in the rock. We saw the places where the skeleton of Little Foot is still encased in rock, and where Mrs Plies was found. The guide rolled her eyeys when asked when the Little Foot skeleton would finally be extracted from the cave: apparently the Professor has said every year that it was imminenet, but it hasn't happened yet. </span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">There have been archaeological sites there since early last century and the Sterkfontein Caves site is owned by one of the Universities whose students work on it too. There are lots of caves but one was enough for us. I bought a fridge magnet which has a picture of a hominod ( early human) and the caption 'Who's my daddy?' ( Another point towards winning the Tourist of the Year prize!).</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Stopped to buy something for dinner at the Woolies food store: they make fantastic ready-made microwaveable dinners, so we bought some and headed for the guest house so Erin could watch a replay of the World Netball Championships and Ewan could watch the Tour de France. How did I end up travelling with 2 sports-lovers I have to ask??</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">As a special treat Erin made me buy a Malva pudding which we will have with custard: it's like a caramel golden syrup pudding and definitely not a Weight Watchers delight!</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">With no exercise and the local delicacies to consume we will be rolling our way home I can tell you!!!!</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Your too well-fed and extremely unfit correspondent</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div><div class="Normal"><span style="font-family: "Arial";">Dianne</span></div><div class="Normal"><br />
</div>Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-91851747887609939802011-07-19T10:33:00.000-07:002011-08-25T05:25:08.368-07:00The joys of JohannesburgMonday 18th July : Johannesburg<br />
All I can say was that yesterday went from the ridiculous to the sublime!<br />
There we were dragging ourselves dressed in dusty creased camping clothes and our even dustier baggage in the door of the Crystal Duvet Guesthouse.<br />
I booked it from Australia and it had rave reviews and wasn't expensive but the name was a worry: what is a crystal duvet anyway?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb1iNN6bGjPjP-fwdYNm2genIseHYOYGJpU06_rDrPt_oyTtXr5w0ADMeORPh_G26fDN12Q_KirbmU7znHxI3SxDLZN_rNMzb16CnkP_Ga2DtkJzISalWPOZtkZeGI9yDLrU5TbMiG1iUT/s1600/DSCN0013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb1iNN6bGjPjP-fwdYNm2genIseHYOYGJpU06_rDrPt_oyTtXr5w0ADMeORPh_G26fDN12Q_KirbmU7znHxI3SxDLZN_rNMzb16CnkP_Ga2DtkJzISalWPOZtkZeGI9yDLrU5TbMiG1iUT/s200/DSCN0013.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>But the decor is something else: there are chandeliers, crystal beads, silver cushions, gleaming white tiles and mirrors everywhere. But the most important thing was the huge beds, crisp white linen and fluffy pillows. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. We tried not to distribute the dust everywhere as we settled in! I had to have a shower before I slid into the sheets!<br />
<br />
We decided to have a quiet day after the previous two days. The Guesthouse is in one of the poshest ( but safest) Jo'Burg suburbs. All of the huge houses in this estate have huge brick fences topped by electric fences or barbed wire. To get into the Sandown Estate, where the guest house is located, you have to stop at a boomgate and pass inspection by the 24 hour black security guard. When we arrived on the first night there was a second guard and he showed us the way in a car marked 'Tactical Response Unit - Security Guards'. All very intimidating which I guess is the point! The crime rate here is very high and you aren't supposed to wander the streets in a lot of areas - I think we would be considered to be easy targets.<br />
We headed for the Nelson Mandela Square and the Sandton City Shopping Centre via a taxi. So we wouldn't have to carry all of the bits and pieces we've acquired we decided to post a box of stuff home: a task which took three visits to two post offices before completed. Found a bank and Ewan bought a new shirt and shoes: now that he had some space in his bag !<br />
There was a huge statue of NM - known here as Mandiba - and an amazing picture of his face constructed out of cups of coffee of different strengths: very clever. It turned out to be his 93rd birthday so there had been a huge concert and celebrations the day before. He seems to be much loved by everyone here.<br />
For dinner we went to the African Dining room, which was just great. The decor was very african : lots of wood, woven reeds and natural fibres. The food was from all parts of Africa but we had Moroccan lamb, and bypassed he crocodile!<br />
<br />
Tuesday 19th July: Johannesburg <br />
Having missed out on Table Mountain and Robben Island in CapeTown, I was determined to not miss seeing the new Apartheid Museum here. I was very interested because the last time I was in South Africa was in 1978 and apartheid was in full force. It was a very nasty shock for Annette and I at the time and we were always getting on the wrong buses or going into the wrong shops. We were horrified to see the beach in Durban divided into four areas for asians, coloureds, blacks ( bantu) and whites.<br />
I never fully understood the historyof apartheid and I wanted to see how it had finally been ceased, so we ended up spending more than five hours wandering through all of the displays and a special exhibition on the life of Nelson Mandela. It was very confronting and reflects very badly on the hatred humans can feel for those they consider different. Mandela's commitment to ensuring democracy for all was an important part of the process for resolving and ceasing apartheid, but it was a very complex and divisive issue for the years it was in place (1948-1990). <br />
I'm a bit concerned how we will survive the museums that Ewan has lined up for us in Turkey as he insists on reading every piece of information in every display! (And he is a rather slow reader, even he would admit!) But it did give Erin and I a chance to buy a Tshirt and a fridge magnet ( 10 out of 10 for being the perfect tourists! ).<br />
your relaxed, and much cleaner, correspondent <br />
DianneDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-32171525938208852002011-07-18T09:14:00.001-07:002011-08-26T04:54:41.829-07:00Leaving Botswana, but not without some challenges!Saturday 16th July: Maun to Serowe<br />
<br />
After no luck with the power being restored in Maun, we spent the night at Drifter's again.<br />
<br />
With Gobi ( the Land Rover ) seeming to be in a happy state of mind again, we set off for the first leg of the journey towards Johannesburg: 485 kms to Serowe and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary.<br />
<br />
The good news is that for the first 80 kms we sped along the tar highway until.......... the clutch went and we had no way to change gear. Ewan managed to get it into 4th gear and decided we would head for the next big town, Orapa, which is a diamond mining town a mere 350kms away. Of course the key issue was to NOT STOP at all, as we couldn't change gear. <br />
<br />
This would be very straightforward on most deserted highways but in Botswana there are 2 impediments to that plan:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM3WFQ1yfW2Z1pag4thkPgbt6MwhNSSm3lujM36u4amWesdLOA49ePrGd8qBgwSCE4ZR2NVfq2-Edbxu8238hyphenhyphenC6os0t2rTLi4qx9PzTy21hVPouW8i4n5RMNsUrLHrR-BU0wTbjToWYy/s1600/DSCN9049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM3WFQ1yfW2Z1pag4thkPgbt6MwhNSSm3lujM36u4amWesdLOA49ePrGd8qBgwSCE4ZR2NVfq2-Edbxu8238hyphenhyphenC6os0t2rTLi4qx9PzTy21hVPouW8i4n5RMNsUrLHrR-BU0wTbjToWYy/s200/DSCN9049.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>1. The unpredictable behaviour of the goats, cattle and donkeys wandering untethered on the side of the road. Without a doubt, the donkeys are the most stupid: some simply stand in the middle of the road and don't move as you approach - we simply had to drive around them and hope that the one neurone in their brain didn't suddenly fire, urging them to move,just as we arrived! The goats just straggle around, but if a baby kid suddenly decides it needs its mother on the other side of the road off it goes, so it was a case of trying to anticpate the pace it will move at , and thus avoid it.<br />
The prize for the best road safety awareness goes to the cattle. We passed through a couple of cattle centres so there were large herds being moved across the road. It was very stressful when we would see a string of cattle heading across the road in single file with no gaps between them for us to squeeze through. However, often one of the cows would stop and watch us approach , thus stopping those behind from going across the road. Phew!!<br />
<br />
2. The foot and mouth inspection points: it is a mystery to us how they can be all over the country on every highway, so where exactly is the disease?? The approach varies from a closed boomgate and an inquisition about redmeat, plus an inspection of our fridge to a wave of the hand or often a thumbs up sign and a permanently open bom gate. We were praying for the latter I can tell you. I wrote some signs to give the inspectors as we sailed past and didn't stop along the lines of : WE CANNOT STOP - THE CAR IS BROKEN - WE HAVE NO RED MEAT!!! We gave one to one person and she looked very confused, but no-one followed us so that was good!. The rest we just sailed through and waved back when they didn't seem interested in stopping us. We did almost have to stop at one to avoid a car coming in the opposite direction but Ewan managed to get it back into 4th gear with a lot of grating of non-existent gears.<br />
<br />
We were basically doing the Botswanian version of the movie Speed, except we were a Land Rover, not a bus and we didn't have a bomb, just a bomb of a car!<br />
<br />
When we approached Orapa, it didn't look too hopeful so Ewan decided we could probably make it to Serowe, as it is bigger. So we just bypassed the turn-offs for any of the towns and kept right on going! <br />
<br />
The scenery was desolate as we were driving through the Kalahari desert: very arid, low bushes and no trees, not unlike central Australia. We were close to the edge of the Malagidiki salt pans too so even less vegetation then.<br />
<br />
The problem was not so much intake as we had plenty of food on board, the problem was the output. I promised Erin I wouldn't describe how she had to use a bowl when she got really desperate, and then when she threw the contents out of the window half of it splashed back onto the car, so I won't mention it. So after six hours non-stop we made it to the Rhino Sanctuary, where we were booked in for 2 nights, and at the reception area the car died when we had to stop. <br />
<br />
We managed to crawl the 2.5 kms to our campsite in first gear in low range - I walked faster than the car moved! So that was the end of Gobi for us.<br />
<br />
We set up camp and tried to work out what to do. We contacted the car hire company - Just Done It - to let them know, but they weren't sure what to do either.<br />
<br />
After a freezing night when the silence was so complete we resorted to Ewan's music to break it, the next morning Ewan asked the campers in the next site for a ride to the Reception, as we were in the middle of a game park and walking around is not a great idea (totally forgot that the day before!). <br />
<br />
The guy who took him was surprising on 2 counts. Firstly: he is the nephew of the current President of Botswana and a grandson of the famous Botswana first President Seretse Khama. The second was that he ahd a gun which he was cleaning: scary!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8OXTGNSCAlmINTIArbasmvtD3iiXQqiUceSkY6ROhasx_5_0p3sPlsmX08vCBfVkh1yZSdcXNglDzp4xbW3K5MojpXAa8EkZ-Pkxy3vcLJf7IVoK9VfjqcDZCEs_naUcHnEwqn0xTts2/s1600/DSCN9936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8OXTGNSCAlmINTIArbasmvtD3iiXQqiUceSkY6ROhasx_5_0p3sPlsmX08vCBfVkh1yZSdcXNglDzp4xbW3K5MojpXAa8EkZ-Pkxy3vcLJf7IVoK9VfjqcDZCEs_naUcHnEwqn0xTts2/s200/DSCN9936.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our last morning camping</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkywvDi889vmac0kNnKBuLgse8XzbqgyGBaN-k3EmbDIM6uIjEewm1RJGLoX_dC6_YiA1Eypxfj-dBg39CD3jmgrKMnraIZ6PYc_s0Li1PjfoyQTZrDsYpTzGfglOtMMnqGt_omyCSCGeB/s1600/DSCN9940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkywvDi889vmac0kNnKBuLgse8XzbqgyGBaN-k3EmbDIM6uIjEewm1RJGLoX_dC6_YiA1Eypxfj-dBg39CD3jmgrKMnraIZ6PYc_s0Li1PjfoyQTZrDsYpTzGfglOtMMnqGt_omyCSCGeB/s200/DSCN9940.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our last photo with Gobi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>To cut a long story short we decided we had better pack up, leave Gobi there and head for Jo'Burg ( over 600kms away) using bus, plane or hitch hiking. We had to be there by Thursday for our flight to Turkey, and Monday and Tuesday were both public holidays because of Presidents Day ( very inconvenient for getting a car fixed, as Ewan pointed out to the President's nephew! ).<br />
<br />
We managed to get Gobi back to the Reception area after we packed our bags and then a miracle occurred! A woman driving a 4WD with a trailer approached us and asked if we had any diesel to spare as she was about to run out. She was enroute to Jo' Burg after dropping her son Waldo at school in Thadazimbi in northern South Africa, and invited us to travel with her!! Unbelievable generosity! Talk about a good samaritan!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighpt1jVNAdx7Tet4MEYF_x4Swas3m6HATVJvDYZrsITCyWsNM96u77ORFpE7IqPFbPdwr3C1UwCGiog2qvL-vNyBfLCFMakYSO8CLM9qiArUGTW29mPFy9XK6x7ix33UA_V3Po4Uxpsa_/s1600/DSCN9943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighpt1jVNAdx7Tet4MEYF_x4Swas3m6HATVJvDYZrsITCyWsNM96u77ORFpE7IqPFbPdwr3C1UwCGiog2qvL-vNyBfLCFMakYSO8CLM9qiArUGTW29mPFy9XK6x7ix33UA_V3Po4Uxpsa_/s200/DSCN9943.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sonja, the good samaritan</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Ewan managed to extract some diesel from good old Gobi after several tasty mouths full and we piled into her car. Sonja turned out to be an afrikaans woman who over the last 20 years has lived in Namibia and now Maun in Botswana. Her husband is in wildlife conservation and she is a potter. It was a very comfortable car and she was happy to answer all of our questions whilst she drove for over ten hours to get us to the guest house. We arrived after 9pm exhausted but very relieved that we had made it to Jo'Burg and had a few days to see the sights. We missed out on the rhinos but what the hell!!<br />
<br />
We fell into bed and slept very soundly.Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-84806298060172965712011-07-17T13:06:00.000-07:002011-08-26T04:41:08.818-07:00Chobe and Savuti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>A spectacular day at Chobe: Monday 11th July<br />
<br />
Just when I thought it couldn't get any better we had an absolutely amazing day. <br />
<br />
The highlights included: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pPEN90BJvy8RuuWiopKEXkVWbKKZqLUlXlaacWwdajKH0cv1wH953W-x90FAneoJPWfCdElPbh1hv5WSX4ZPeWZg3AnBN-1yXCG2vtXgJLbaqB9DMZsRkIALhhGZ1N7Tjnse_LTstqKT/s1600/DSCN9461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pPEN90BJvy8RuuWiopKEXkVWbKKZqLUlXlaacWwdajKH0cv1wH953W-x90FAneoJPWfCdElPbh1hv5WSX4ZPeWZg3AnBN-1yXCG2vtXgJLbaqB9DMZsRkIALhhGZ1N7Tjnse_LTstqKT/s200/DSCN9461.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>- Setting off for a drive around the river flats of the Chobe River and spying what I thought was a pile of slippery grey rocks, only to discover that they were in fact a pile of hippopotami, large and small, sleeping peacefully in the mud near the shore. We saw a number of these 'stacks on hippo', as Erin called them, with only an occaisional yawn to indicate they were alive. Up until this point we had been counting them in single figures but we probably saw 40-50 of them in the one day. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUr_Ouk9WlyNrOio0AVX5UhJiuhqqYFIY4KCnqR4SkJ1h3jXT3cOXP_rd28TZna7c05HDM6a_4WdaRsxqDJxEC5KHLnifjFlr0X6wihWZ1RRfzgesql3uMyWOygvxKCsjHG2CoTqA8EdW/s1600/DSCN9580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUr_Ouk9WlyNrOio0AVX5UhJiuhqqYFIY4KCnqR4SkJ1h3jXT3cOXP_rd28TZna7c05HDM6a_4WdaRsxqDJxEC5KHLnifjFlr0X6wihWZ1RRfzgesql3uMyWOygvxKCsjHG2CoTqA8EdW/s200/DSCN9580.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What cute backsides!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>- Through the binoculars ( that's an important detail as we didn't want to be too close to these!) we saw three ENORMOUS crocodiles warming up in the sun, with their mouths open to cool off (and terrify the tourists!)<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIzsXNvqtgiIblSHH-9V_MYFMHhznsUwciiydSMxoUKBYZPJtQij1lVBTjJQdKiM0kAk2JtL0xrR7OZWJl-yLFbuM87hoU2QaKBfGKrSlHBIZFHbKWsXZxWn_xtHOLJU0yAWITLstcFw7r/s1600/DSCN9554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIzsXNvqtgiIblSHH-9V_MYFMHhznsUwciiydSMxoUKBYZPJtQij1lVBTjJQdKiM0kAk2JtL0xrR7OZWJl-yLFbuM87hoU2QaKBfGKrSlHBIZFHbKWsXZxWn_xtHOLJU0yAWITLstcFw7r/s200/DSCN9554.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A young giraffe having a rest in the shade</td></tr>
</tbody></table>- Giraffes everywhere: crossing the road at a leisurely pace, checking us out briefly and then stopping to feed at the edge of the road. Lots of babies, although even they are still tall! We even saw 4 'teenagers' (I would guess) racing along the plain with enormous strides and covering a lot of ground very quickly. What a sight!<br />
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- Following a tip-off (and some GPS coordinates) from Paul we joined them to watch some lions - lionesses and 4 cubs- eating a water buffalo they had just killed. They had pushed it behind a bush and by the time we got there had eaten well and were looking contented ( which we were pleased to see!) They were only a few metres from the road and wandered in and out of the cars parked there without a care in the world. One of the cubs carried the buffalo tail around and played with the others as if it was a toy. We felt very safe despite their close proximity which was surprising to me as I expected them to be aggressive if we were too close.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIJxnlHeK5XKyNT538zaqe1UhCB0Z80UP-93CAWTafrhZJkkDe5MRooWKhgL0HbfkjocZFCmEBBN4Nrji3BiwMMMGwD6nUEBqamXDPKSAvNHDakpGh7bvceadhekztOu7jVbOZW2kBgI4/s1600/DSCN9481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIJxnlHeK5XKyNT538zaqe1UhCB0Z80UP-93CAWTafrhZJkkDe5MRooWKhgL0HbfkjocZFCmEBBN4Nrji3BiwMMMGwD6nUEBqamXDPKSAvNHDakpGh7bvceadhekztOu7jVbOZW2kBgI4/s200/DSCN9481.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhchG-VYxfrgMw7S2mtUZK0Qv_0DlZCN2YZr8Lg3_T-AMibJvqNggd6lnIrLRchWmLkCxxVuAhx09kifH2uLVwI95DWm59xQmEHGTLnKfxUbdzgkppZP_DscsCqZWZRaW3CGxrO7zwa475p/s1600/DSCN9487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhchG-VYxfrgMw7S2mtUZK0Qv_0DlZCN2YZr8Lg3_T-AMibJvqNggd6lnIrLRchWmLkCxxVuAhx09kifH2uLVwI95DWm59xQmEHGTLnKfxUbdzgkppZP_DscsCqZWZRaW3CGxrO7zwa475p/s200/DSCN9487.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lion cubs playing - <br />
totally unconcerned by onlookers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>- In the afternoon we went on a Sunset Cruise for 3 hours, so not surprisingly we have heaps of photos of a spectacular sunset! The boat slowly moved among the reeds and water so we were even closer to the hippos (hurray!!!) and the crocodiles (AAAAH!).<br />
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We were very privileged to see a rare sight up close, according to our fellow travellers. <br />
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A small herd of elephants were standing on the shore,including a couple of babies, whilst we went sailing past. They were headed towards a huge island grassland in the middle of the river, where lots of elephants were already grazing. The only way they could get there was to swim across the water that we were on, right in front of us. They sort of swim, bounce and float to get there using their trunks to breathe when it gets deep. We were all concerned about the babies but when one started to separate from the others a huge trunk swept them in so close they were touching the others. The larger elephants sort of bobbed into them so the baby would bounce up every now again, and we could spot tiny trunks waving in the air. It was like a mass of elephants with a range of tiny to enormous trunks reaching up in the air. It took them about 20-30 minutes to get across and we all watched with bated breath to see if the tiny baby would get there, but of course they made it and happily strolled off to feed. Truly a remarkable sight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQO60N_kJmobEXdkanZ6U1wNruv6hPMykdiS1W-f_pxguxuGzasfsyQDApJAgRUvyijgUUXkW0c2G5NVOZB6PkGEDqK_37uKe4erU-_TNwwpkqMnUtZjyuvni3iEy55jyFTWRRbEaYnX8e/s1600/DSCN9651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQO60N_kJmobEXdkanZ6U1wNruv6hPMykdiS1W-f_pxguxuGzasfsyQDApJAgRUvyijgUUXkW0c2G5NVOZB6PkGEDqK_37uKe4erU-_TNwwpkqMnUtZjyuvni3iEy55jyFTWRRbEaYnX8e/s200/DSCN9651.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bundle of elephnats swimming across the river</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHVs9XlmnXVi0Wibucuyd18gpFlC3-Y-jHU8528Q-q6ucDw71kTDgOfVVli3WzMlpqEYO3fnzASvXd428tuiTbQHyV3_vR6G8F5uOKPP8PZs-BL6dNLi4I1asLW5dzq1X8pvpmR7A7mQN/s1600/DSCN9654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHVs9XlmnXVi0Wibucuyd18gpFlC3-Y-jHU8528Q-q6ucDw71kTDgOfVVli3WzMlpqEYO3fnzASvXd428tuiTbQHyV3_vR6G8F5uOKPP8PZs-BL6dNLi4I1asLW5dzq1X8pvpmR7A7mQN/s200/DSCN9654.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Success at last!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It was quite a cruise, and of course the gin and tonics were compulsory!!!<br />
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Dinner at the safari Lodge was our choice as we were all pining for asian food and they had a stir-fry bar, although this time the meat was impala ( I did feel mean as they are very beautiful animals). Then I ate some kudu marsala curry (they are enormous buck with huge curly antlers) At least I can't be accused of not trying the local delicacies!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEa_Mpe728SfR7y7El1_6IpM-TXbFoylq5YkudhCG4v311o5hD6x-o5pEbzwsDCw6ncSJOj5ClCYasTwFfZ0FoGpP4YuaMKOfrgm9ZU4TYpDk9qN-wt_kKihabYypnHcMSVksp0poesXm7/s1600/DSCN9683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEa_Mpe728SfR7y7El1_6IpM-TXbFoylq5YkudhCG4v311o5hD6x-o5pEbzwsDCw6ncSJOj5ClCYasTwFfZ0FoGpP4YuaMKOfrgm9ZU4TYpDk9qN-wt_kKihabYypnHcMSVksp0poesXm7/s200/DSCN9683.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7NCg67ndxb9aY9k7ccS_hzwG65LS2k-PPQMOttwgNCpo0kiz-oz1Q77Gye2FfG8DcFrtwlSKl675hldOwNIXOTfwUYFAGS263egueZ3vknpkOxY9q6vpUT_yi62JDLGCOXnnpw9rWMK2Q/s1600/DSCN9676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7NCg67ndxb9aY9k7ccS_hzwG65LS2k-PPQMOttwgNCpo0kiz-oz1Q77Gye2FfG8DcFrtwlSKl675hldOwNIXOTfwUYFAGS263egueZ3vknpkOxY9q6vpUT_yi62JDLGCOXnnpw9rWMK2Q/s200/DSCN9676.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Off to our final campsite together..... Savuti Camp - Tuesday 12th July<br />
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We woke this morning to the noise of monkeys sitting on our verandah demanding attention. There was a notice on the sliding doors suggesting we don't leave them open and now I know why.<br />
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We headed off for Savuti which is in the Chobe national Park: the roads have quite a reputation for being almost impassable so we were very pleased to travel along a brand spanking new highway for some of it at least. Then the dense sand and corrugations started for the next 60 kms or so. The radio in the Land Rover bounces out when it gets too rough so Ewan had one hand on it and one hand on the steering wheel, as the car wheels basically followed the tracks in the deep sand. I was in charge of holding the iphone and itrip so we could get some music. <br />
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We saw a couple of ostriches which we hadn't seen before and some more zebras. It's never dull driving along as some animal or bird happens along that you haven't seen before. I thought I'd be tired of animal-spotting by now but not at all.<br />
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However there is a scary side to being quite so close.......<br />
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Twice in the last 2 days we have upset a herd of elephants crossing a road and a bull elephant has made it very clear that he is not happy. The problem occurs when a large number of elephants are crossing the road including babies and mothers. If we drive through when the herd is split across both sides of the road the bull elephants get very protective and flap their huge ears, trumpet and look generally pissed off. <br />
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Yesterday we reversed very smartly hoping one irate bull elephant wouldn't follow us, which it didn't. Then we weren't sure what to do. Just as we were trying to decide, a troop carrier (a sort of open air tourist bus) went straight through without a problem so we followed without any incident: the elephants had resumed eating. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdpcvwvEBdMFVAsTsWaHPEZuDGbLDGjS57_p8M3_Yh3jme7ZDh15Bdxi9SRnixaYJBsSp92wwKG20zRXmQR4U6_aqTIZOxyYNw1Ei-_8UQx9lTSP1MGP0dnO5nbLggeuuyXAnehCxR28X/s1600/DSCN9890.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdpcvwvEBdMFVAsTsWaHPEZuDGbLDGjS57_p8M3_Yh3jme7ZDh15Bdxi9SRnixaYJBsSp92wwKG20zRXmQR4U6_aqTIZOxyYNw1Ei-_8UQx9lTSP1MGP0dnO5nbLggeuuyXAnehCxR28X/s200/DSCN9890.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The elephant checking out our campsite</td></tr>
</tbody></table>However this morning we went past and then the bull elephant got very annoyed and chased us up the road. They can move very quickly and are very frightening when they are in pursuit. Erin was hysterical in the back seat, but then it was closer to her than us as it ran along the road at high speed toward us. When it decided that we were frightened enough it stopped and rejoined the herd. Phew!!! ( driver's note: they were at least 100m away! ) Excuse me Ewan but since when does the driver get to edit my blog!!!!!!!!!!<br />
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We arrived at the Savuti campsite which is fairly isolated and basic. Whilst we waited for the others we decided to have lunch and as soon as the food was unpacked lots of hornbills, which are EVERYWHERE in Africa, appeared. They are speckled black and white birds the size of a magpie, but with huge yellow to red hooked beaks twice the size of their heads ( You'd be very impressed Lauren-NOT!). Up close when you are trying to eat your lunch and they increase in numbers and get closer and closer, they seem very threatening. Consequently Erin had her lunch sitting in the car! ( takes after her sister in some things! ) Ewan was no help as he decided to feed them! We awaited the arrival of the others so that the attention could be divided amongst a few more people.<br />
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I was just sitting here typing when a small elephant wandered past in the campsite: not quite what we expected, but luckily it decided that the next campsite looked a bit nicer so it went over!! Lucky as who knows what damage it could have done!! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiKAkuxVzRlluJl4OBsOghJZDI9mqY_0SJAhyphenhyphenrBux2i8F9eo9y2rlwfWPk-jCjpitvCE6ZCfjKnDQA1_Gncl2uV-swAvIt2zskjT7o4O0t91GQwbtY0ZaFkUZacweyYrXWhRJw4yHmXDrR/s1600/DSCN9727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiKAkuxVzRlluJl4OBsOghJZDI9mqY_0SJAhyphenhyphenrBux2i8F9eo9y2rlwfWPk-jCjpitvCE6ZCfjKnDQA1_Gncl2uV-swAvIt2zskjT7o4O0t91GQwbtY0ZaFkUZacweyYrXWhRJw4yHmXDrR/s200/DSCN9727.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The Ablutions block here has a concrete wall protected by a huge mound supporting the wall, encircling it to prevent the elephants getting in.<br />
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The tap on our campsite has been carefully encased in a huge brick block with only a few inches of pipe sticking out of the side. To turn it on you have to reach into a plastic pipe in the side and that's where the tap is. Apparently the elephants decided that they liked fresh water and worked out how to turn the usual type of taps on!<br />
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Chobe is the Park where there are thousands of elephants (20-30,000 estimated) so we're expecting to see a lot of them! perhaps not quite so close...<br />
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PS: OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
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They were famous last words I can tell you. After I finished updating the blog I went to do a bit of tidying up and started to wash the dishes at our table. I looked up to see a huge bull elephant looking at me about 40 metres away. Then the fun began.....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLskKhPzMp2wqdF2_26CuRF_M2525kb2Xn49fyiGYI7vMN1Pl_MtL5VGJhrHKEMJdZ2IsAeuBRqj7l9zEa8S-XxsmVDW0U5mAAclQRbgL8zLg2OC9inh-mHcx8nwGe-oS9G5C3bY20U68/s1600/DSCN9743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLskKhPzMp2wqdF2_26CuRF_M2525kb2Xn49fyiGYI7vMN1Pl_MtL5VGJhrHKEMJdZ2IsAeuBRqj7l9zEa8S-XxsmVDW0U5mAAclQRbgL8zLg2OC9inh-mHcx8nwGe-oS9G5C3bY20U68/s200/DSCN9743.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The elephant exploring one of the caravans</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I yelled ( so much for the stay cool and calm advice!) everyone came to look and the elephant slowly lumbered forward to get a closer look at our camp. We had been told that we should not have any citrus fruit as the elephants love it, so those of us who had some had eaten it and tossed the peels into the bush behind the campsite: the birds had eaten most of the peel. <br />
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Anyway the elephant made a beeline for the back of the site and rummaged around for a while, whilst we all fled in various directions. Erin and some of the kids headed for the protection of the Ablutions block wall. I managed to grab the camera from our car. The elephant came into middle of our campsite where we had all of the vehicles in a circle. It picked up and ate some bananas from a chair (carefully spitting out the plastic bag they were stored in and the cake mix being saved for Lou-lou's birthday ( for the chefs among you the cake worked fine!), It moved in front of Moira and Colin's off-road caravan, knocked over one of our chairs and came in the direction of our car which had the tents erected ready for us to spend the night. I had put all of our fruit in the metal fridge inside the car so the scent wouldn't be obvious and Ewan had hastily put the vegetables that I'd cut up for dinner in the car too. So it decided that we had nothing worth having. It turned and went to the other's caravans and tents having a good look for food and sniffing around with its trunk. Paul's family jumped into their car and Saskia described how she could look up its trunk as it sniffed at the car window.<br />
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By this stage I had retreated to the safety of the Ablutions block with all of the children ie. I thought someone should look after them and I was happy to do the job under the circumstances!!! The great thing was that the view from the top of the wall was teffific! Like being in the dress circle!<br />
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Eventually it ambled off to scrounge for food in the bushes and to demolish a few trees, so we all heaved a sigh of relief! Just to be clear, this was a large elephant with enormous tusks which towered above all of the tents and trees. It was not agitated and calmly wandered around looking for food, not interested in us at all.( says she who headed for the safest place at a rapid rate!!!)<br />
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Apart from three hyena who visited in the night the rest of it passed uneventfully!<br />
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Wednesday 13th July<br />
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Today our family officially failed the lion-spotting contest!<br />
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Camped in Savuti by the Savuti Channel and flats which had quite a lot of water means that there should be lots of game. We headed off through very sandy roads and tracks and saw animals we hadn't seen elsewhere: Blue Wildebeest ( very large and dark, definitely not to be tangled with) tsessebe ( yet another type of deer) a jackal and lots of kudus, zebras, giraffes, elephants and of course more impala.<br />
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We headed off up a track and Paul followed us a few minutes later. Erin and I were spotting, she to the left me to the right, whilst Ewan drove. Then we got a message from Paul via the radio: we had driven straight past 2 male lions!!! So back we went to see two lions lying in the sun at least 100 metres from the road. To make our excuses for missing them, the track went through low grassland with a few bushes and trees - in amongst the grass there are tufts of grass that are slightly taller and darker than the pale grass. One of these 'tufts' turned out to be one of the lions. The only hope you have of picking them out is that they move just as you are looking in that direction: very challenging to spot. They were very sleepy and not moving much at all but Paul saw a movement just as he looked which was lucky. The result is that our reputations have gone to hell and noone believes us when we report that there's nothing to see on any particular track!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnQJ0Z7pK8BEoRuRQ4uddMvG-saC2GPKR5Epb96Y6Axd_8JnLB5RY1YWSclVOqYVQ_fsMybrh2rOCLWcfrHi_DdtcR4CvS1YX_oPdBHsD2abUY3F46IC4dYfoLfwhMBZXJQZHVndFWbET/s1600/DSCN9803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnQJ0Z7pK8BEoRuRQ4uddMvG-saC2GPKR5Epb96Y6Axd_8JnLB5RY1YWSclVOqYVQ_fsMybrh2rOCLWcfrHi_DdtcR4CvS1YX_oPdBHsD2abUY3F46IC4dYfoLfwhMBZXJQZHVndFWbET/s200/DSCN9803.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a great photo but they were running!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There was a beautiful moment when we were travelling through a difficult-to-find grasslands track (thanks to Gloria the GPS yet again!) and across the grasslands there was a herd of giraffe travelling through the grass in the background with lots of the other animals in the foreground. We circled around and saw the giraffe up close, which is always exciting. These were much darker markings than we'd seen previously, and all sizes.<br />
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The focus of the afternoon was the making of three enormous oxtail potjies for dinner. This involves slow simmering in enormous camp ovens for most of the afternoon so fires had to be carefully maintained and there was much stirring of pots.<br />
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Before we had dinner , Cobie had assigned everyone a role to play in a drama which she narrated and we acted out. I was the sun, ( props supplied by neon bracelets distributed to celebrate Lou's birthday), Ewan was a very enthusiastic hippo which resulted in him being covered in black sand, and Erin was a tree which involved supporting a fish eagle (Hadrian), being blown away by the east and west winds (the 2 Pauls). It was a lot of fun for both adults and chilkdren alike.<br />
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Then we settled down for a delicious dinner until........<br />
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EVEN MORE FRIGHTENING OCCURRENCES THAN THE PREVIOUS NIGHT!!!!!<br />
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As we were sitting eating we suddenly heard a lot of yelling and banging coming from one of the other campsites nearby.<br />
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The brave and fearless Moira went to investigate and came back rather agitated; an elephant had just ripped the rooftop tents from a vehicle very similar to ours, and was looking very angry. Fortunately there was noone inside the tent at the time, but the family members who were in other rooftop teants were petrified of course. there was an absolute hubbub with lots of noise being generated to try and frighten the elephant and our camp being packed up in record time!! The potjies were quickly taken to the Ablution block as they smelt atractive to elephants we all assumed. The children, some with their half-eaten dinners, were dispatched there too. The teenagers from the family whose tents had been destroyed were also there very tearful and upset.<br />
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And of course we are the only people sleeping in the same sort of tents in our camp so we were rather worried.<br />
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In the end the rangers came, and all of the noise did eventually scare the elephant away. The rangers followed it and fired a few warning shots to make sure it didn't return.<br />
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The story goes that the elephant went into the campsite looking for food because other stupid tourists had delibarately fed elephants whist staying there. It starled the family who decided the best tactic was to scare the living daylights out of it. The elephant became agitated and grabbed the tent from the car. The accumulated knowledge from our travelling colleagues was that you should stay calm as we had done the night before (!!!) and not try to antagonise the elephant, but who knows??!!<br />
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My only other advice is to avoid campsite No. 9 if you ever camp at Savuti! Apparently the rangers had 'poisoned' another bull elephant who did the same thing at the same campsite and they thought this elephant was a companion of that one. They said they would follow the elephant the next day and decide what to do about it, but it seemed that it might meet the same fate as it's mate. Very sad - all because of the stupidity of humans feeding wild animals!<br />
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It turned out that the families effected were 2 families of New Zealanders, the mothers were sisters and originally Afrikaaner before migrating to NZ 25 years ago. They moved all of their vehicles on to our site, and slept together in a spare tent and not in their rooftop tents ( not surpisingly!).<br />
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Meanwhile we all had a stiff shot of Amarula ( Thanks Colin!) to settle our jangled nerves. We all felt reassured that the number of people and vehicles had increased and eventually collapsed into bed. Although Erin was not entirely convinced that we weren't next!!!!<br />
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At some point there was a conversation with the new zealanders about the worst that we would expect at home was a grumpy wombat or a cranky kangaroo! Very small fry compared to this!<br />
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Thursday 14th July: Savuti<br />
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The visitors packed up and left very early heading for the safety of Kasane.<br />
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We farewelled Cobie, Gerritt, Hadrian and C.G., as they headed back to Pretoria : Gerritt was determined to be in his own bed that night so they had a lot of driving to do. <br />
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The others all set off, with Erin esconsed with all of the kids, to see Linyanti. Ewan and I weren't keen as the roads are hard work here, especially in the stiff suspension of the Land Rover, and there didn't seem to be much to see as a lot of it was privately owned.<br />
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We spent a couple of hours exploring some more local tracks and did visit some rock art in one of the very few hills near here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiz-ASLKSpitwFSfvare45Im7SYWFZxH3VvzsFXiX8GBlFobwBjQ73aIWZQm3kKu6uhS_JWu4ofsPqxxSOeIZyV_vga0TtkuD7jOastOYsulrUPl_fDaLAutzGvJAwPqDyi5P7U-7KqKAH/s1600/DSCN9900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiz-ASLKSpitwFSfvare45Im7SYWFZxH3VvzsFXiX8GBlFobwBjQ73aIWZQm3kKu6uhS_JWu4ofsPqxxSOeIZyV_vga0TtkuD7jOastOYsulrUPl_fDaLAutzGvJAwPqDyi5P7U-7KqKAH/s200/DSCN9900.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tents the elephant ripped off the top of the car</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Then in the late afternoon, another visit by the same elephant who visited the site on the first night (we think!). It was foraging for food. He spent some time eyeing our campsite for food from only a couple of metres away, but he had to content himself with the juicy bushes behind our campsite. Mind you, we still had to do the quick pack-up so there was no food on offer. (Paul commented that it seemed to take a very short time to completely clear the site compared to the amount of time it usually takes us to pack up to get on the road!). Colin produced a serious catapult and Loisnita a stun gun, just in case, but a bit of drumming on an old metal drum barbecue seemed to do the trick. He was very calm and this time so were we - I didn't even go to the Ablution block for safety! He wandered through a few of the other sites and eventually the rangers came and frightened him away with a couple of warning shots.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colin and Loisnita: well-prepared !</td></tr>
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Off we all went for our last game drive together but we had some trouble with the car and had to return to base. <br />
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Fortunately Colin is a diesel mechanic and he pronounced it OK after Ewan had plugged some hole with the cork from a bottle of red wine!! Ewan tells me it's leaking hydraulic fluid from the clutch : great! Not exactly hundreds of garages out here to help if needed!<br />
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Friday 25th July: Back to Maun <br />
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We all got up at sunrise and packed the camp up and set off down a truly horrible road. It took about 3 hours to do 61 kms I think. It was very sandy, huge potholes and lots of corrugations. We finally reached Maun and the power to the whole town had gone off, apparently a frequent occurrence. The last time we were here there was no water to flush the toilets, so, despite Maun being the big smoke it would be challenging living here! The only place we could find to eat was a Nando's - just like home- as it has its own generator. I'm sitting here in anticipation of the power suddenly starting and then I can post this blog!!!!!! ( no such luck! ) <br />
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It was very sad to farewell everyone as we have become good friends whilst living together for the past 3 weeks.Our afrikaans hasn't improved much as their english is so good <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CDhtHFRRUxxqqZJF4xmk0mfUTNT4Bsdr8jGuN8rQ28Gv0RBYZmXRtObyJijROkNYKjpDlQd-Fm1uOlQwfn45iojQTxXir8r6x1m0_soKeNN47fnmjU72K0zRO7lKl4xkXytyvLZ0qevi/s1600/DSCN9842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CDhtHFRRUxxqqZJF4xmk0mfUTNT4Bsdr8jGuN8rQ28Gv0RBYZmXRtObyJijROkNYKjpDlQd-Fm1uOlQwfn45iojQTxXir8r6x1m0_soKeNN47fnmjU72K0zRO7lKl4xkXytyvLZ0qevi/s200/DSCN9842.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kids enjoying Lou Lou's birthday treats</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOgBS4M_tca980Dw7BgNjZFDO_RcNWp4Kk59w_eaEVynm_rJtIDDRJ76CTPKQ1rF5ZH5ErBTnUl32HP0QlNYo00pop8yr54-DMj55jEKn78lNrg5jyeSGC4kheJJdk9dNSTCl33VTkUfj/s1600/DSCN9625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOgBS4M_tca980Dw7BgNjZFDO_RcNWp4Kk59w_eaEVynm_rJtIDDRJ76CTPKQ1rF5ZH5ErBTnUl32HP0QlNYo00pop8yr54-DMj55jEKn78lNrg5jyeSGC4kheJJdk9dNSTCl33VTkUfj/s200/DSCN9625.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the group enjoying the Sunset cruise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The good news is they weren't axe murderers at all!!!Dianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-16468653512424995192011-07-11T12:44:00.000-07:002011-08-26T05:40:09.085-07:00More Namibia, back to Botswana and into ZimbabweNamibia still.....<br />
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Tuesday 5th July and Wednesday 6th July<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcYAgpJsALcMkOkbkhGLwTI90tBmQsi7IPZm9jYap9cfeF3CvlRR9V124y4ojhM3JR2kg00vXhWjE0CZl2uSI8yDPJFfORddJORVqbc1oKlA_d_US43tVbZ6jEl2sK6UbNZ3mph_1CiaE/s1600/DSCN9098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcYAgpJsALcMkOkbkhGLwTI90tBmQsi7IPZm9jYap9cfeF3CvlRR9V124y4ojhM3JR2kg00vXhWjE0CZl2uSI8yDPJFfORddJORVqbc1oKlA_d_US43tVbZ6jEl2sK6UbNZ3mph_1CiaE/s200/DSCN9098.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>After a couple of nights at Ngepi we have headed across the Caprivi strip in Namibia along the super Highway for several hundred kilometres. We voted it even more boring than the Geelong Road (is that possible I hear you ask?!). Although there are some subtle differences: here they have burned a strip of the bush on either side of the road to deter elephants crossing or deciding to use it as an easy trail. Every few kilometres there are HUGE signs saying : ELEPHANTS - 80 kms /hour. I haven't quite worked out if that means us or the speed at which the elephants travel! <br />
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They have some very nice reststops under the shade so we stopped and made a cup of tea, which I drank standing in the middle of the highway, just for the hell of it. No other traffic at all!<br />
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If you can be bothered have a look at the map of Africa and you will see a strip of land to the north of Botswana that actually belongs to Namibia. That's where we are. The story goes that Germany and the Brits, who 'owned' Botswana then (Bechuanaland province in those days) did a deal The Germans wanted access to Zimbabwe and Mozambique and the west, so they swapped Zanzibar, a port town in Tanzania which they 'owned', for this narrow strip of land. (I think that's the right way around but I"m not sure!) Don't you love foreigners just bargaining with significant portions of the continents they colonise as if they were chess pieces?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXgRpGBMbu-GzYhwa6J-cIcghywubUb-bZwqwztCX-x9SEsVJ2opDaS9t1jspwD2Enkt4_zNgkqVn7yVLAurv4eWhE4kNQfMDqcki6OyNEM0846qw-waakCk5H04LciJKkPSCf1KpvBAh/s1600/DSCN9142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXgRpGBMbu-GzYhwa6J-cIcghywubUb-bZwqwztCX-x9SEsVJ2opDaS9t1jspwD2Enkt4_zNgkqVn7yVLAurv4eWhE4kNQfMDqcki6OyNEM0846qw-waakCk5H04LciJKkPSCf1KpvBAh/s200/DSCN9142.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the craft shops</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We stopped at a Craft Centre much to Erin and my delight, and even Ewan enjoyed it. The conversation went like this: "Ooh, I love this ...... (insert necklace/statue/bag/carving/ etc). Do you think we would get it through Customs?" Almost invariably the answer is no as everything is made from seeds, reeds, wood or plants. The baskets are truly superb workmanship - the OT in me was very impressed. We did buy a few bits and pieces and we'll see what Australian Customs thinks! ( We'll just hope Border Security isn't filming at the time!)<br />
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After another few kilometres on yet another dirt road we arrived at Camp Kwando where we stayed for 2 nights. We passed lots of villages with round and square mud huts with thatched rooves. And lots of children on their way home from school clutching empty plastic bowls : I think that's because the schools have food programs. Life is extremely hard here so I can imagine that food would be scarce. The children are always smiling and happy to see us: probably because they expect 'sweeties'. It's very hard to not give them anything but tourists are requested not to give them money or lollies as it teaches them to beg. We saw a couple of schools out in the open air today: one teacher , one book and a crowd of children in dusty shabby clothes, happy to be distracted by weird foreigners. After we drove away I rememebered that I had a copy of Animalia whcih they woulld have liked I'm sure. There are some charities which we will donate to, to help out.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkYolKDIY21KEdh1X2i4k-CCBuWWX8M2TXPlJTJhnKjvZussHqyPpKnB7K_qCjQyRE0NPU6iMdnaHxIMVDcsqE70CmlzuKOGNcnT4PjkfKrHv5TQv1v1ix9stCBRzeSjiaU02eQMojPN1/s1600/DSCN9149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkYolKDIY21KEdh1X2i4k-CCBuWWX8M2TXPlJTJhnKjvZussHqyPpKnB7K_qCjQyRE0NPU6iMdnaHxIMVDcsqE70CmlzuKOGNcnT4PjkfKrHv5TQv1v1ix9stCBRzeSjiaU02eQMojPN1/s200/DSCN9149.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The deck at Camp Kwando</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Kwando Camp had fabulous riverside campsites, lots of grass ( to counter the effects of the endless African dust) and a beautiful bar, sun deck, restaurant area: the total opposite to the local villages. Even just camping we are living in a different world.<br />
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It was good to upload the blog so far and to see that someone is actually reading it. Sorry for the crappy spelling and the poor grammar, but I don't always have time to edit it! Too busy doing nothing really!<br />
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Thursday 7th July: Camp Kwando, Namibia. <br />
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We headed off to search for yet more animals at Horseshoe Lagoon , and later in the day at Mudumu National Park.<br />
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Before you go you have to buy a park permit from the Rangers office, but the paperwork was a bit challenging. Obviously Australian tourists aren't common as both times they asked us if Australia was in Europe, and in the end classified us as 'Others' on the form!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl089RRbiSxIxE2SSS85TAYavcXdnPljOzG5NIfZQTv4eNwtHHAVJ07cXkaZJBhEdtLUxh2M3NENRPlWC1C0iox-DBDOMGKcrOgLYZSGqJrEZ2lwaqpZgIr0NwWFBwF_8xFl7dtr2YMTNQ/s1600/DSCN9147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl089RRbiSxIxE2SSS85TAYavcXdnPljOzG5NIfZQTv4eNwtHHAVJ07cXkaZJBhEdtLUxh2M3NENRPlWC1C0iox-DBDOMGKcrOgLYZSGqJrEZ2lwaqpZgIr0NwWFBwF_8xFl7dtr2YMTNQ/s200/DSCN9147.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilling out in the bar</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>We saw 3 hippos out of the water which was exciting, especially as they allowed us to get very close. They sleep with their chins on the ground and barely raised an eyebrow when we appeared. They seem to be in every estuary/lagoon/pond/lake and they really are HUGE. As they are short-sighted they don't see us very well I think! We saw lots of amazing birds, even a vulture too. And warthogs, elephants, impalas and a new sort of buck, a PUKU, which has ears like a kangaroo.<br />
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The best times to search for game are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. But it is always a rush to get out of the park before nightfall as the sunsets are stunning but seem to occur very quickly.<br />
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The BIG NEWS was that some of the others went back to Horseshoe Lagoon that evening (too far and bone-shaking for us to go twice in one day) and they saw two leopards. They were all very excited as leopards are difficult to find and two of them just walked across the road in front of their cars! Apparently lions and leopards are the big ones to see, but we just think every animal is fabulous!<br />
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Friday 8th July: Katima Mulilo (Moo-lee-loo), Namibia<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHhephNPIhe4ISluU6UHCZUdCrLnkxrDnY6gYNnJDlV1dfDdAfbtuSwx4g4_opCzMA0Jwfh64aTWdohApftVNG0Riuwszp2MFgL18T0wxOfkkQ76iRZy0uKeN_S375BD8nweU5AaoC4Q4/s1600/DSCN9232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHhephNPIhe4ISluU6UHCZUdCrLnkxrDnY6gYNnJDlV1dfDdAfbtuSwx4g4_opCzMA0Jwfh64aTWdohApftVNG0Riuwszp2MFgL18T0wxOfkkQ76iRZy0uKeN_S375BD8nweU5AaoC4Q4/s200/DSCN9232.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carving a traditional canoe: mokoro</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After seeing hundreds of traditional villages along the roads we visited the Lizauli village which is designed for tourista like us to explain the traditional way of life. It was great to see the mud huts and brush fences up close, and to be able to ask lots of questions about their way of life. It was fascinating really: much as I am keen to see the animals I am much more interested to see how people live and spend their time. The poverty by our standards and the subsistence level of survival is overwhelming. Wealth is dependent on the ownership of cattle ( good thing we haven't hit any on the road!) and perhaps a job. As in lots of other third world countries employment seems to overtake efficiency: if there's a job that a couple of people could do there seems to be 10 people around, most of them watching. Better than depending on social security though.<br />
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<tr><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHvJZpoTy8yGPGRRYb3eGQcwx_o6clFztOsa_vv00t48P179H1kJmtg3CVIZiWpPTTG6mpqCQM4YrXMFQmgNFjR0cjSA-yr1lFlcBTfWbCp2GdzZ_6cfBiPjLRsc65kgZSLusnNRljrDY/s1600/DSCN9232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHvJZpoTy8yGPGRRYb3eGQcwx_o6clFztOsa_vv00t48P179H1kJmtg3CVIZiWpPTTG6mpqCQM4YrXMFQmgNFjR0cjSA-yr1lFlcBTfWbCp2GdzZ_6cfBiPjLRsc65kgZSLusnNRljrDY/s1600/DSCN9232.JPG" /></a> </><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwD_s3d1sOwvLq3WIwZnaWqsJ_uv6cqJUXcVR1_UT_CPI_PLLeXtdecfSP8kM7EgRLg6R54zNL7Je34dAeMdtjHu9-QWRWeOcrer1SkNT95AlKLjqdKjiui1YXyUx1WkoL9ykfKRra9Sfk/s1600/DSCN9279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwD_s3d1sOwvLq3WIwZnaWqsJ_uv6cqJUXcVR1_UT_CPI_PLLeXtdecfSP8kM7EgRLg6R54zNL7Je34dAeMdtjHu9-QWRWeOcrer1SkNT95AlKLjqdKjiui1YXyUx1WkoL9ykfKRra9Sfk/s200/DSCN9279.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></div></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weaving a basket: <br />
Botswana is famous for it's finely woven baskets</td></tr>
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The locals survive on a diet of mealie ( white maize) which is used for porridge, flour etc and has minimal nutritional value. They eat it as white stodge with any available meat and little or no vegetables. In times gone past the meat would have been the game that we tourists want to see, but now there are various schemes to preserve the wildlife, such as the villagers being paid to not kill the wildlife and to breed other domestic animals, thus the goats and cattle we have been dodging on the roads!<br />
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Apparently an American woman recently paid the Namibian government 150,00 namibian dollars ( more than AUS$20,000) to kill a hippopotamus to take the head home for a trophy. The rangers distributed the meat to the local villagers.<br />
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Can't say we've seen any american tourists at all: that's no loss!!<br />
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But last night when we arrived at Katimo Mulilo and set up camp on the banks of the Zambesi River, there were a couple of people riding pushbikes with helmets on ( very rare occurrence here - both the bike-riding and the helmet-wearing)! They were camped in the same camp at the zambesi River Lodge at the Protea Hotel. Turned out they live in North Fitzroy! He's a New Zealander and she was originally an american and they met in Mexico. He is about to turn 30 and will be fulfilling his dream to work on every continent before he turns 30. They are in Katimo Mulilo for 2 months to work on bikes donated from Australia to be repaired for use by the locals. They are awaiting a container of 400 old pushbikes, then they will train the locals to repair them, set up a small business and then sell them cheaply. It's a great idea: if any of you have any old bikes that you'de like to donate we have number! We were wondering where some of the bikes came from and apparently a container load arrived at a town near our last campsite so that must be the source. They clearly don't come with helmets though. Today we saw somene with a construction helmet balanced precariously on his head with no strap to hold it on, pedalling furiously along the super highway!<br />
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Katima Mulilo is quite a large town and very busy and dusty. Erin and I were on a mission to buy thongs - oooops! flip-flops here - so we had a great time perusing the shops and enjoying the sights and the people. We had to bypass the opportunity to buy fake Quiksilver flip-flops as they didn't have our size and eventually tracked down some truly ghastly patterned ones that did fit. There are queues in every shop which makes for interesting observations as long as you have a lot of time. People are a bit wary but very friendly when you say hello. The children are ususally interested as apparently there are only 150 whites in the town.<br />
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I tracked down the Post office to try again to send postcards, and this time there was a whole queuing etiquette which I seemed to have missed entirely. The PO had barbed wire around it and security guards on the doors. Lots of people do their banking and bill-paying there, which meant the queue moved very slowly. Still I was pleasantly surprised to see only 12 people in the queue with a few more sitting on seats at the edge of the queue. I shouldn't have been so confident as the security guard came in and announced something loudly, at which point all of the people resting their weary bones on the seats jumped up and joined the queue ahead of me: I gather that every person in the queue was minding a spot for at least 2 or 3 others!! Just when I was about to give up all hope the security guard went to the front of the queue and said "STAMP!!!". I hurried forward and managed to purchase the required stamps quickly ( tree frogs of Namibia for those interested) and headed for the door. Which was locked of course, as the security guard was organising the queues! Finally he came to let me out and I, and the postcards, were on our way! <br />
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The campsite looked out over the Zambesi River and into Zambia on the other side. We spent a pleasant night eating out at the restaurant at the Hotel: food good, but service based on Africa time! <br />
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Saturday 9th July: Chobe Safari Lodge, Kasane, Botswana<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYnF52hldnIRPPJG5tW1wmpPmcELBQfEHYjpEMUkGj58loIkHo1ZYGQp_YpLGg6YIMCpPDpqUWROQAZAf-ozh_KLeIy_wN-DScASL3XniR1YEu5QKceqOA4jfqu5Th_tljlooB0rJpofx/s1600/DSCN9355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYnF52hldnIRPPJG5tW1wmpPmcELBQfEHYjpEMUkGj58loIkHo1ZYGQp_YpLGg6YIMCpPDpqUWROQAZAf-ozh_KLeIy_wN-DScASL3XniR1YEu5QKceqOA4jfqu5Th_tljlooB0rJpofx/s200/DSCN9355.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>With great anticipation we headed off for the delights of the Chobe Safari Lodge for 3 nights: the anticipation is due to the fact that we are booked into the lodge for a bit of luxury: hurray!! It's not that I don't like camping but it will be heaven to be able to get into bed without climbing a ladder. It's worth a look at their website as this place is so stunning it's impossible to describe. If you check out the vidoe on their website you'll see a few shots of a warthog in front of a 2 storey building: we're staying in the Lechwe ( type of buck) Suite in that building. We seem to have two rooms with 2 double beds and two single beds for the 3 of us. Erin was THRILLED that she had her own room and could finally escape my snoring! What snoring I ask??!!<br />
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I was particularly delighted with the idea of someone else doing the washing as I had just realised that an egg ( which I had carefully stored in a plastic container whose lid must have been dislodged by one of the many potholes!) had broken in my clothese bag and most of my supposedly clean clothes had egg on them. Straight to the laundry with that lot and hang the expense!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBqBlPO2ndW7drNP4w4BczE-Fq6wwu5_OJoriKrsP3bISsEEczcIkEX-TS89ViNde-jFtmjegFpqH4SYxAugKD0cuCCWZ9LCUDUOHX2plyH1VHbP6vGmBNrvu-P6V5OBbpUEHS9IAIQ_n/s1600/DSCN9349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBqBlPO2ndW7drNP4w4BczE-Fq6wwu5_OJoriKrsP3bISsEEczcIkEX-TS89ViNde-jFtmjegFpqH4SYxAugKD0cuCCWZ9LCUDUOHX2plyH1VHbP6vGmBNrvu-P6V5OBbpUEHS9IAIQ_n/s200/DSCN9349.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
We all trooped off to savour the delights of the buffet for dinner. I was brave and tried roast warthog with mustard sauce ( tasted like soft lamb) AND crocodile in peppercorn sauce ( tastes like chicken: how does such a nasty looking animal become such nice meat?). We all appreciated the ease with which we could obtain a meal instead of the usual braii: find /buy wood, find kindling, light fire, negotiate with the others about the heat of the fire you need to cook, etc etc. We all went a bit wild and the desserts were a real treat.<br />
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In the middle of the meal a dance troupe arrived and performed local native dances: contagious rhythms and enthusiastic singing and dancing. I was mesmerised, whilst the others seemed rather bored - but I guess they have seen it all before. Some of the men had hides wrapped around their lower legs and created a drum beat by jumping and hitting the hides together: very skilful and impressive.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhcKmNgGES2L7GfsmHTKARVcnPAyQFvaxxjNaYRGumX1W1ZPYCY6ToA_vLPiHWgAzvF2OQN0WnHHf76m2OamstE3sHP8ExQnwJ7GgKIDB28y-xKSSkxABSdKWNbnIJASDsSjHzAjPJDsf/s1600/DSCN9368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhcKmNgGES2L7GfsmHTKARVcnPAyQFvaxxjNaYRGumX1W1ZPYCY6ToA_vLPiHWgAzvF2OQN0WnHHf76m2OamstE3sHP8ExQnwJ7GgKIDB28y-xKSSkxABSdKWNbnIJASDsSjHzAjPJDsf/s200/DSCN9368.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The decor and design is very african and very tasteful: superb statues, lots of local wood etc. Four year old Meike took me by the hand to show me the wash basins in the loos which have a different african bird glazed into the porcelain. She was impressed!<br />
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Sunday 10th July: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe<br />
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With only 75kms to Victoria Falls the convoy set off early this morning, just for a day trip. As it meant negotiating the border posts for departure from Botswana and then entry into Zimbabwe, and then the reverse to return, we decided that the fewer cars that went, the cheaper it would be (as it is quite dear to move cars across different countries here). As foreigners we had to pay $US30 each to get a visa for Zimbabwe, which none of the South Africans had to pay. Funnily enough noone wanted to come in the Land Rover with us so we went in the Prada with Colin and Moira, her sister Louisa and her 2 children Lou-lou and Hugo. The kids sat in the back of the car and noone puts on their seat belts, all of which seems strange to us. It certainly was a smoother quieter ride than Gobi, the Land Rover. <br />
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The border post process to get into Zimbabwe was like a John Cleese movie. It was as if someone tried to concoct the most confusing and long-winded method to get people through. There were lots of different queues in a very small office, so after we had sorted out who went where and how much to pay, we found ourselves instructing all the new arrivals in the process. It was very comical really, but we did emerge triumphant eventually. When we were discussing the need for some electronic rather than manual processes the guy ahead of us in the queue said he'd been at a border post where the computer screen had solitaire on it whilst the staff filled out all of the paperwork by hand! It's progress of sorts I guess!<br />
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When we arrived at the Falls we thought that we could walk over the bridge into Zambia without too much trouble. In the end it would have cost us foreigners $US50 each so we decided to just do the river walk on the Zimbabwean side of the Falls instead and the others went into Zambia. There was a horrific bungy jump in the middle of the bridge which just confirmed my belief that I will never do it - and it was only half as high as the one Erin did!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZgzCRe3W5k5zqpoL-fOpi7cibAOS_lAUXrjIoQVcpG2R7lsCeho_FWkzxNnEPWsXAKcP4BH5TJnIMQwzMqpqaSUCxv-4wTXh6JdoIXpgF-uds0xNY5-4dJgODhyphenhyphenJ3VJ8WcaOw8i6XLGs/s1600/2011-07-10+12.43.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguZgzCRe3W5k5zqpoL-fOpi7cibAOS_lAUXrjIoQVcpG2R7lsCeho_FWkzxNnEPWsXAKcP4BH5TJnIMQwzMqpqaSUCxv-4wTXh6JdoIXpgF-uds0xNY5-4dJgODhyphenhyphenJ3VJ8WcaOw8i6XLGs/s200/2011-07-10+12.43.08.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down into Rainbow Gorge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaE_wbVBF5wJb9KZfkj72LKkm6udxY98j4JFdcHpMzhIEdjPjkKK_c01-E98Vo-vRW1RYmRLj6122knFBChyphenhyphentDZDTt_tHZsaap-yjWIGvzSQuaN4vMsPP-fgQ2WBw7EqZ7fjdPUuX5oYIq/s1600/DSCN9400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaE_wbVBF5wJb9KZfkj72LKkm6udxY98j4JFdcHpMzhIEdjPjkKK_c01-E98Vo-vRW1RYmRLj6122knFBChyphenhyphentDZDTt_tHZsaap-yjWIGvzSQuaN4vMsPP-fgQ2WBw7EqZ7fjdPUuX5oYIq/s200/DSCN9400.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before we got too close and soaking wet!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Erin and I donned our rain jackets and Ewan hired a long raincoat before we set off to get up close to the Falls - and boy! we needed the rain wear. There are no words to describe these Falls: they are every bit as amazing as the photos you see of them. The Zambesi is a wide and shallow river until it hits the enormous gorges that are the reason for the Falls - then the water tumbles down with great force for hundreds of metres, creating a mist that turns into the equivalent of pouring rain along the paths.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCrxNoEB2aDfWPjrIDhckQLc3mbdmdYcgFDTzkZt1grjoqpHKemVu2WupVb09MPh_nLTly1NGJpt3Sfgm2nxjA0TxCFEZba_LUeDqAku05CFUm2E1aSRvNhbqw8zQKbUXF8-GlUo4wmew/s1600/DSCN9411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCrxNoEB2aDfWPjrIDhckQLc3mbdmdYcgFDTzkZt1grjoqpHKemVu2WupVb09MPh_nLTly1NGJpt3Sfgm2nxjA0TxCFEZba_LUeDqAku05CFUm2E1aSRvNhbqw8zQKbUXF8-GlUo4wmew/s200/DSCN9411.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>We ended up soaked through : pants and shoes dripping wet. And backpacks wet through too, so soggy tissues and damp everything! We spent some time sitting in the sun and out of the mist to try and do some drying. A monkey stole a mandarin whilst everything was spread out on the grass!<br />
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The one thing I really wanted to do was go to the Victoria Falls Hotel and see if it had changed in the 30 years since my last visit in 1978. We took the short cut along the river to get there and a police woman escorted us to ensure that we weren't set upon by the local louts and craft sellers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnSHJix6Fjd5T706FEEzLcmGWsN_CtTF_x57LCrqzgNRctSqVAeM0UpuR-vcXr2usPKtP4aJ3vcC4izMxvRyA4ZSqHJRfM5uFVoBUiUBfqNoxTL3CuMF_wQWgMXkMMVrxHxlyvL73vxID/s1600/DSCN9425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnSHJix6Fjd5T706FEEzLcmGWsN_CtTF_x57LCrqzgNRctSqVAeM0UpuR-vcXr2usPKtP4aJ3vcC4izMxvRyA4ZSqHJRfM5uFVoBUiUBfqNoxTL3CuMF_wQWgMXkMMVrxHxlyvL73vxID/s200/DSCN9425.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In front of the Terrace prior to High Tea</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Hotel has been fully renovated and is superb. Despite our bedraggled appearance we decided to indulge in high tea on the terrace overlooking the Bridge, with the Falls in the background. Very nice it was too.<br />
<br />
Tired and weary after our big day we returned to the creature comforts of Chobe Safari Lodge to find the washing done and ironed. What a great day all round!<br />
<br />
Your correspondent in luxury<br />
<br />
DianneDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-48571242023940783352011-07-06T06:10:00.001-07:002011-08-26T05:55:12.932-07:00Guma Camp ( Botswana) and onward to Ngepi Camp in NamibiaSaturday 2nd July<br />
<br />
We spent another night at Drifters by the banks of the river, with a huge campfire, then we headed back to the bustling township of Maun, after comparing supermarket reviews with the other females in the group!<br />
<br />
This time we managed to retrieve the card from the Bank and reactivate it over the phone, which was a major challenge as we ran out of phone credit part of the way through and had to make a dash to a Shell shop to get more credit to complete the process.<br />
<br />
Security is so tight: to enter any of the banks here, and in South Africa, you can only go through the door via a glass cubicle one at a time. You step in and when the door closes behind you then the door in front of you releases so you can enter the bank. All of the ATMs have guards too.<br />
<br />
Some observations:<br />
<br />
Queuing: It is quite an art here as well as a necessity. It's Africa time: which basically means there won't be enough staff and you will have to wait until someone decides to respond or you make a fuss. Even in the supermarket if you want decent steak then you have to ask for it and wait for it to be vacuum packed. In the Bank there was a sign instructing clients to not jump the queue, and that they were not to reserve places in the queue! I did write some postcards but my attempt to send them was thwarted by a queue of 25-30 people all looking as if they had been there for weeks! Even a guy leaning on the fence outside saw me go in, and on my way out just shook his head and said "Too many people"!<br />
<br />
Church ladies: Erin and I were fascinated by the outfits of a few of the large elderly ladies in town. Having done some reading about the history of Botswana I think the dress is explained by the large number of churches and the missionaries that first came to Botswana in the 1800's. Seretse Khama (who was the Chief then) gave permission for the London Missionary Society to come to Botswana and a number of his children converted to Christianity and now there are some amazing 'churches' that merge traditional Botswana spiritual beliefs with faith healing and Christianity, and have amazing names.<br />
<br />
These women had long dresses with a frill of lace around the bottom of the skirt and long sleeves. Their hats were the most interesting though : sort of a huge flat triangle made out of the same fabric as the dress with the flat side of the triangle shading their faces. Some had shawls as well. Whilst one woman had a grey dress, the others had added a Botswanian flair using bright floral material. I'd love to have taken a photo and to find out if my theory is correct, but didn't want to appear rude!<br />
<br />
Braais and barbecues: we have come to the conclusion that Afrikaners eat a lot of meat - usually vacuum-packed slabs of rump steak. But they cook it very slowly over the coals so it is still pale whereas they think Ewan is burning our meat/chicken when he cooks it more quickly and browns it. There's lots of spices and sauces involved , and I have to admit that Gerritt's super rump on the first night was delicious. <br />
<br />
ON THE ROAD AGAIN:<br />
We managed to find all of the bits and pieces we needed and even found a hardware (I think Ewan was experiencing Bunnings withdrawal symptoms!). He bought some adhesive strips of foam rubber so we could stop water coming in the car doors on the wetter roads, and 15 metres of washing line ( which Erin and I have put to good use!)<br />
<br />
Leaving the bright lights of Maun behind we headed off down a tar road (yay!) for 300 kilometres to reach Guma Lagoon Camp.<br />
<br />
We encountered a food inspection point to prevent foot-and-mouth disease. On everyone else's advice I had hidden our steak in the dirty washing bag. Unfortunately I totally forgot that I had put it back in the fridge to keep cold temporarily so it was confiscated. We could have cooked it and taken it with us as COOKED meat is acceptable, but we didn't bother ( and I hate most steak anyway!). <br />
<br />
It was a very long straight road with lots of animals - cattle, horses donkeys and goats - to be avoided. It's a bit dauntng trying to work out, as you hurtle along at 90kms, whether any of them are going to choose that exact moment to launch themselves across the road.<br />
<br />
I did nearly overturn the trusty Land Rover when I swerved to miss an enormous pothole, forgetting that it is so top heavy because of the tents. It gave us all a fright, but we survived.<br />
<br />
We finally made it to Etsha 13 and Ewan did a repair job on the doors before we launched ourselves into the water-soaked roads (12kms) to reach the Guma Lagoon Camp. We were first to arrive and we had been told that the water was only (!!!) knee deep. Being brave adventurers we set off and attempted to keep within the white posts in the water which showed the best way to go. It was a lot of water to plough through but it was Kalahari sand on the bottom not mud, so we made it without drama. At one point some small boys jumped on the back of the car ( twice!) and refused to let go until Ewan stopped and yelled at them. Sometimes the water is so high you have to get a boat or a truck to get here so we were lucky.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLVl_ynC0ualAlyf7tvlujgkRTvCfbBVY-D_f1CudBx0jTfdf2Gn_tYWGXFOGirKhMjAFBpDplp7kvSQ4ocUUgirPLgdkg6JrAvvyKI2CErWrNmWR4_j0jNsaXKkw1s_mYT4lqHCteVOC/s1600/DSCN8988.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLVl_ynC0ualAlyf7tvlujgkRTvCfbBVY-D_f1CudBx0jTfdf2Gn_tYWGXFOGirKhMjAFBpDplp7kvSQ4ocUUgirPLgdkg6JrAvvyKI2CErWrNmWR4_j0jNsaXKkw1s_mYT4lqHCteVOC/s200/DSCN8988.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our campsite</td></tr>
</tbody></table>It is like an oasis on this island: gone is the black sand and now we have green grass! Heaven. It is known for its fishing and birdlife and we have a lovely shady spot to camp with HOT SHOWERS!!! Erin and I spent hours doing the washing and we had a very peaceful night with no hyenas, lions, hippos etc to keep us awake.<br />
<br />
However, there are crocodiles in the lagoon and apparently some tree snakes and scorpions. It would be so boring to be somewhere without something to look out for!<br />
<br />
There's a lovely bar and sitting area in amongst the trees on the bank of the lagoon, where I am sitting now. We've booked in for dinner here: spicy beef and bean stew, which will be a welcome relief from braai-ing.<br />
<br />
Sunday 3rd July:<br />
<br />
A day of rest: it is amazing how quickly you settle into 'Africa' time: it seems very easy to just sit and do absolutely nothing. After more washing this morning we just relaxed for the day and wandered around the camp, just sitting with the others (and moving the washing so it would get direct sunlight and dry!). There was a tiny swimming pool to deter guests from diving into the lagoon and being consumed by crocodiles, but we didn't venture in.<br />
<br />
Monday 4th July.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjWcMvgNYBkfFjMlwS3kFrhD62Ii7_Pp3HBEvpaAxoGwMtAhwntDe0JifK0o2Z7wYg_It6Cifz0E2pw5vKBtfwPrIAQ6-6wsSAnBY0ssHIu4mH4ZzLv4Nj58z4pAEFVbiQy_BHpGlKtwU/s1600/DSCN9077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjWcMvgNYBkfFjMlwS3kFrhD62Ii7_Pp3HBEvpaAxoGwMtAhwntDe0JifK0o2Z7wYg_It6Cifz0E2pw5vKBtfwPrIAQ6-6wsSAnBY0ssHIu4mH4ZzLv4Nj58z4pAEFVbiQy_BHpGlKtwU/s200/DSCN9077.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xoanthe</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Up early and away enroute to Namibia. But first a trip to the Tsodilo Hills: sacred ground for Botswana and archaeologists. It was declared a World heritage site predominantly because of ancient 'bushmen' rock paintings that have been dated back 30-50000 years (depending on who you believe). We went on a 2 hour rock climb and walk which was challenging after a week of sitting in the car and not walking far, because of potential attack by wild animals. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8inV7TOkBJ9xa-h-emUcSrE2YfY9AW2rTSDFyFy1Dq9UThBu-sF4V9ttKXvxtlGJCFdpOEF3bNHQ17xPtpl9asG0yjHVQT3bZEsZ_jre7VdObrtyM8ozt_pDOp4leg8x0oLsY_iTakVhQ/s1600/DSCN9090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8inV7TOkBJ9xa-h-emUcSrE2YfY9AW2rTSDFyFy1Dq9UThBu-sF4V9ttKXvxtlGJCFdpOEF3bNHQ17xPtpl9asG0yjHVQT3bZEsZ_jre7VdObrtyM8ozt_pDOp4leg8x0oLsY_iTakVhQ/s200/DSCN9090.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>The paintings were great, mostly red ochre: although it isn't clear what has been used for them to last so long. Thus some people question their authenticity. Our guide was a local San tribesman whose family has lived there for generations. His name was Xoanthe: any 'X' is pronounced with a click of the tongue which we find impossible to do despite practicing on long car trips.<br />
<br />
The road there was supposed to be much improved, but there were some significant potholes which we hit as we are under strict instructions not to swerve for anything, and everything, including us, bounces up and resettles. I'm not sure the suspension in Land Rovers is one of their greatest features! I had a drive on the sandy gravel road and tried to avoid the potholes and the donkeys, goats and cattle: so far so good.<br />
<br />
Then we headed for the Namibian border stopping at a Choppies supermarket to buy rump steak and fresh milk. We were scrutinised by the local children who are shy but interested in us. <br />
<br />
The border post seemed to be well-staffed but exceptionally slow. We even had to complete paperwork about the car including the chassis and engine numbers. I think next time Ewan will simply make them up as no-one checked.<br />
<br />
At the Namibian border post we almost had the red meat and fresh milk confiscated again! A friendly policwoman eventually asked us if the meat had bones, then one of the policeman inspected the 'cooler box' and they looked at the meat and decided that as it had no bones it was probably OK. Then we had to convince them that as we had only just bought the milk it would be OK so she did us a big favour and told us we could keep it, but next time to be careful. The connection between meat , meat with bones and milk and foot-and-mouth disease seems a little tenuous but at least this time we didn't lose anything!!<br />
<br />
We drove through the border with new stamps in our passports and headed for the Ngepi Camp, sighting some zebras on the way.<br />
<br />
In Namibia you don't stay in the actual national parks as we had been doing, you stay in private camps on the border of the Parks. This camp is on a river which seems full of hippos judging by the bellowing in the middle of the night. Water buffalo were moo-ing in the night too.<br />
<br />
If we really wanted a swim there is a cage in the river that keeps you and the crocodiles separate. We are still pondering the sign that suggests you don't wee while swimming?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxn36zVKrZMqIU1DBKqh70ezlPj-b7iLJbsdyXfqh9UQSeRcFeS67Q1wlH4rpxjkW-FELcD9RKqfqB_OBTsOIWheFkFKvGbz3fnVb2-fIGQrGcfLTYpMEtRA9rOXWOTIkj00KjrIRfs2h/s1600/DSCN9106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxn36zVKrZMqIU1DBKqh70ezlPj-b7iLJbsdyXfqh9UQSeRcFeS67Q1wlH4rpxjkW-FELcD9RKqfqB_OBTsOIWheFkFKvGbz3fnVb2-fIGQrGcfLTYpMEtRA9rOXWOTIkj00KjrIRfs2h/s200/DSCN9106.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LouLou and Hugo in the bath with a view!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsUDzhtbEWhy6q5zPZ-1l09_duydbFeFqA2mWlE5YVSa6sdGTs-LZtML0CUdE0IVrA2aFxfLatdtuLWxCVPQi97VKIcIPiD6e8MECaElbl_lCG1Jc10ZuyIzRTr_ahcJBBS8fXYXKwhIy/s1600/DSCN9103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsUDzhtbEWhy6q5zPZ-1l09_duydbFeFqA2mWlE5YVSa6sdGTs-LZtML0CUdE0IVrA2aFxfLatdtuLWxCVPQi97VKIcIPiD6e8MECaElbl_lCG1Jc10ZuyIzRTr_ahcJBBS8fXYXKwhIy/s200/DSCN9103.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One well-camouflaged green mamba: <br />
look from middle of photo to top left hand corner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The amenities are unique here. perched on the river bank, 3 sides are brush walls and the other looks out over the river. There is a wooden throne in one of them and a bath you can heat water for by lighting a fire or waiting for the solar power to work. There was a moment of excitement this morning when 2 of the kids were in the bath and one of them had a pee over the edge of the deck and on to a green mamba tree snake: highly venomous - a bite results in death within 15 minutes. It didn't seem to suffer, but I'm not sure I will be having a bath here!!<br />
<br />
Lots of choices for things to do here, even bike-riding. Ewan was going off to investigate, but he's not convinced that he would survive peddling through the sand, or wants to.<br />
<br />
It seems there are no Americans in this part of Africa as the day passed quietly!<br />
<br />
THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A DOMESTIC GODDESS:<br />
<br />
LAUNDRY: We have gone for the advanced option in the washing machine range - a large bucket with a tightly sealed lid. Agitation is provided by the endless potholes and the general state of the roads : just add filthy dusty clothes, washing powder and water. Seal lid and place in back of vehicle. Arrive at destination, admire the disgusting colour of the water , wring out, refill bucket, wring out again and hang out to dry (trying to ignore the fact that the rinse water was as putrid as the washing water). I can see why brown is the fashion colour of choice here ( it just verifies Ewan's colour sense! ). <br />
<br />
CLEANING: You soon learn to put everyting in black plastic bags so that the layer of dust that settles on everything in the car is not too unbearable. Everything is so dusty you just learn to live with it.<br />
Ewan decided to unpack the car completely and spring clean at Guma Camp, but within a few minutes on the next gravel road we were back to square one.<br />
<br />
COOKING: Thank God for barbecues, or braais as they are here: huge campfires every night have helped. The gas cooker is the standby and has already produced lots of cups of tea of course. Due to the dutch heritage of our fellow travellers we have been introduced to the joys of coffee and rusks, although they are breakfast food and we like them for morning /afternoon tea, which the others find strange.<br />
<br />
Fortunately the water in Botswana is fine, probably as there is so much of it. Boiling it is a useful precaution for drinking water though, so no-one has been ill yet.<br />
<br />
DISHWASHING: Whilst disliking the performance of heating water and doing the dishes, the views from the 'kitchen window' have been truly superb. Today's was a silvery expanse of water with clumps of pampas grass and papyrus framing it. (remember pampass grass? All the rage in the 70's in big pots: reminds me of Stevenson St.). <br />
<br />
Have to go and polish the silver,<br />
<br />
your domestic goddess in transit<br />
<br />
DianneDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229078691776937066.post-24737891649340135732011-07-06T06:08:00.000-07:002011-07-06T06:08:49.292-07:00Leaving Moremi to start the circumnavigation of the deltaQuitting Kwai and back to the big smoke of Maun <br />
<br />
There really is no end to the excitement here. Just when it seems to be all quiet on the African front a hyena visited us in the middle of the night, took a fancy to our dirty dishes ( it must have been my spaghetti bol.!) and stole the entire washing up tub and dishes. Some of the others saw it and took some photos, but none of us sleeping in the tents directly above the hyena heard a sound. I did wake a number of times and thought I heard some lions roaring, then realised it was Mario snoring in the next tent.<br />
<br />
In the morning Ewan had to scout around in the undergrowth trying find our crockery and cutlery (metal dishes and cheap cutlery). Somewhere in the depths of the african savannah a hyena is drinking out of a metal goblet as we couldn't locate it anywhere!<br />
<br />
The next day the convoy set off to find hippos in the river or the swampy delta surrounding it. We did see a few, but thankfully none too close. Also red lechwe ( a type of deer), and a stork, eagles and lots of amazinng birds. The most weird is the african kingfisher which has a dusty pink breast, an aqua head and the rest a bright green: when it flew the underside of the wings were bright aqua: it looked as if someone just mixed up some colours on a palette and smeared them on - not the usual colours for any bird!<br />
<br />
We went back to the Wild dog plains to see if we could spot a leopard or more lions, but to no avail. Lots of elephants though, and a rather frightening moment when we thought they had blocked the road with a tree, and we were stuck too close to a large bull who was guarding his family including a very small baby. We were all much relieved to hear Loisnita in the first car say " It's OK the road isn't blocked".<br />
<br />
We all have radios so we can communicate with each other: yesterday the kids sang us afrikaans songs over the radio when they got bored. With the radio and Gloria the GPS we can't get too lost so that's good. Although we did follow a few tracks which ended in water and we had to backtrack: Gloria's instructions here all end with the instruction 'seasonal'!<br />
<br />
The weather has been fantastic: around the mid-20's every day and beautiful sunshine. It gets cooler once the sun disappears usually after a stunning sunset, but not as cold as the first night which was only a couple of degrees.<br />
<br />
Erin and I have been sharing a tent as she was a bit concerned about the prospect of being attacked in the middle of the night. At Kwai, apart from the occaisional hyena, there are also lots of monkeys and baboons, but the baboons have kept their distance. The tiny vervet monkeys are very curious so we have kept everything zipped up.<br />
<br />
Last night we did have a visit from an elephant who was keen to visit. The first I knew of it was one of the boys asking me if an elephant could push over the tree in the middle of the campsite: he was sizing it up as a possible source of escape if the elephant got too close, which mercifully it didn't!<br />
<br />
All of the campsites have fabulous campfires so we build very large fires for warmth at night and to deter any unwanted visitors. Erin and I decided against walking to the toilet block last night in the pitch black, as a leopard had visited the campsites a few nights before and whilst it would have been a dramatic way to die we decided against it.<br />
<br />
The kids decided that they would do a concert last night: there are 9 kids from 4 families ranging in age from 4 ( the gorgeous Meike) to 12 years old. They get on very well although the concert was almost cancelled due to artistic differences. You do realise what a global village we live in when you hear two girls, one afrikaans and speaks english, and the other (who lives in Paris with her parisian father and Afrikaans mother, Louisa) singing songs from Mama Mia, a musical about an english family living on a greek island!<br />
<br />
Friday 1st July<br />
<br />
We headed back to Maun to recover the credit card from the Bank, only to find that it was President's Day and the bank was closed. But we did find an internet cafe and managed to upload the blog I had been writing. Everyone here was thrilled to hear that I had said they weren't axe murderers, even though two of the vans have axes strapped to the back. We stocked up with food and alcohol from a roadside bar.<br />
<br />
Ewan went on a small plane trip with 4 of the others over the Delta: they saw animals and had a good look at the waterways of the Delta. Now we're back at Drifter's just outside Maun before heading off tomorrow. We will have to do a quick trip into the bustling metropolis of Maun to go to the Bank, which should be open, but as they keep saying to us: That's Africa!!!!!!<br />
<br />
Your chilly correspondent ( as the sun fades)<br />
<br />
DianneDianne Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03025521886150100256noreply@blogger.com1